Manuel Alvar
| Manuel Alvar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 8, 1923 Benicarló, Castellon de la Plana, Spain |
| Died | August 13, 2001 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Chinchón, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Education | Universidad de Zaragoza |
| Alma mater | Universidad de Salamanca |
| Occupation | Linguist, historian |
| Employer |
Universidad Complutense de Madrid Universidad de Granada Universidad Autónoma de Madrid |
| Known for | Spanish dialectologist, Romance language specialist, historian, university professorship |
| Title | Director of the Real Academia Española |
| Term | 1988-1991 |
| Predecessor | Carlos Clavería |
| Successor | Arturo Pérez-Reverte |
| Spouse(s) | Elena Ezquerra |
| Children | 7 |
| Honours |
Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Granada, University of Valencia, University of Zaragoza, University of Salamanca, University of Sevilla, Universidades Nacional de San Juan, Universidad de Buenos Aires) Honorary Professor (Universidad de San Marcos de Lima, Universidad Austral de Chile) Distinguished Professor (Universidad of California Santa Barbara, State University of New York Albany) |
Universidad Complutense de Madrid Universidad de Granada
Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Granada, University of Valencia, University of Zaragoza, University of Salamanca, University of Sevilla, Universidades Nacional de San Juan, Universidad de Buenos Aires)
Honorary Professor (Universidad de San Marcos de Lima, Universidad Austral de Chile)
Manuel Alvar (July 8, 1923 - August 13, 2001) was a Spanish linguist, historian, and university professor specializing in the study of dialectology and philology of the Spanish language. Alvar oversaw and influenced the creation of many Spanish linguistic atlases (maps recording speech variations in a given geographical area) throughout his career, served as Director of the Real Academia Española for four years, and was a member of language academies throughout Europe and Latin America.
Manuel Alvar was born on July 8, 1923 in Benicarló, Castellón de la Plana, Spain. He began his studies at the Universidad de Zaragoza, where he was a student of José Manuel Blecua, a renowned Spanish philologist. Alvar transferred to the Universidad de Salamanca and graduated from there in 1945 with the highest honors, with a degree in Philosophy and Spanish Literature. He later received his doctorate from the Universidad de Madrid in 1946. His primary teaching position was at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
He married historian Elena Ezquerra and together they had seven sons, many of whom are likewise academics and linguistically inclined—one is a lexicographer and university linguistics professor; another teaches Romance language philology; a third teaches Latin philology.
Alvar lost his battle to lung cancer in August 2001, at the age of 78. He is buried in Chinchón, a small town southeast of Madrid.
Alvar's research provides sociohistorical context of Spanish dialect diversification, outlined in his Manual de dialectología hispánica (1996). His studies cover Spanish dialect variants in his native country (especially in Andalucía, the Canary Islands, Navarra and Aragón regions), as well as Spanish dialects in the United States, South and Central America. Alvar's study of Spanish in the Aragón region includes historical background, changes in orthography, personal names, and variation in syntax, morphology, and phonology, outlined in his 1953 publication El Dialecto Aragonés.
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