Institut d'Estudis Catalans
Encyclopedia
The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (instiˈtud dəsˈtuðis kətəˈɫans, English
: "Institute for Catalan Studies"), also known by the acronym
IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture".
The IEC is known principally for its work in standardizing the Catalan
language. The Institute's current president is Salvador Giner, elected to the office for four years in June 2005, and to a second term in 2009. The IEC is based in Barcelona
, the capital of Catalonia
, and the second largest city in Spain
.
Enric Prat de la Riba
, who was to become the first President of the Commonwealth of Catalonia
, signed the founding document of the Institute, as president of the Barcelona County Council on June 17 1907. The IEC is one of a number of cultural and scientific institutions created at that time to lend greater prestige to the Catalan language and culture; others include the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Library of Catalonia), the Escola Industrial (Industrial School), the Escola Superior de Belles Arts (Higher School of Fine Arts) and the Escola del Treball (School of Labour), el Centre de Recerca Matemàtica
. Prat de la Riba also founded the Escola de l'Administració Local (School of Local Administration), in order to create a body of Catalan civil servants for the regional government.
The IEC was admitted to the Union Académique Internationale
in 1922, shortly after the establishment of the latter.
During the dictatorship of Franco, along with many other Catalan cultural institutions, the Institut lived a semiclandestine existence, and was not officially restored to its previous status in the field of language standardisation until a 1991 bill was passed by the (also restored) Catalan Parliament.
The IEC inspired the creation of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans
in Occitania
. Occitania is an area in southern France where Occitan (often called Provençal) has been historically spoken.
, the Philological Section worked to establish a series of spelling
norms that were approved by members in 1913. These became the foundation of modern written Catalan which are still in use today. Similarly, in 1917, the Diccionari Ortogràfic de l'Institut was published; it soon became a dictionary
of spelling norms irredeemably tied to the reputation of former Institute Director Pompeu Fabra
. The dictionary went through several editions, with the last released in 1937. This work and others were the basis of Fabra's Dictionari General de la Llengua Catalana published in 1932, a general-purpose dictionary that became a standard reference work throughout the various Catalan-speaking territories.
Officially the IEC provides standards for the language as a whole: the Philological Section has members from Catalonia
proper, Northern Catalonia
(located in France), the Balearic Islands
, Valencia
, Alghero in Sardinia
and the Principality of Andorra
(the only country where Catalan
is the sole official language). However, the Valencian Region south of Catalonia
has its own language academy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
, which nevertheless formally acknowledges that theirs is one variant of the common language. In an area known as the Franja de Ponent, the eastern edge of Aragon
adjacent to Catalonia where Catalan is spoken by about 44,000 inhabitants, the rules are followed de facto although Catalan is not an official language in that region.
Other IEC works of note include the Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana published in 1995, and the regionally sensitive Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear (Catalan
-Valencian
-Balearic Dictionary). Notable members of the Philological Section include Josep Carner
, Àngel Guimerà
and Joan Maragall
.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: "Institute for Catalan Studies"), also known by the acronym
Acronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture".
The IEC is known principally for its work in standardizing the Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
language. The Institute's current president is Salvador Giner, elected to the office for four years in June 2005, and to a second term in 2009. The IEC is based in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, the capital of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, and the second largest city in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Enric Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà was a Catalan politician. He became a member of the Centre Escolar Catalanista, where one of the earliest definitions of Catalan nationalism was formulated....
, who was to become the first President of the Commonwealth of Catalonia
Mancomunitat de Catalunya
The Commonwealth of Catalonia was an institution which grouped the four diputacions of Catalonia. It was created on 6 April 1914, although the process of creating the institution had started in 1911....
, signed the founding document of the Institute, as president of the Barcelona County Council on June 17 1907. The IEC is one of a number of cultural and scientific institutions created at that time to lend greater prestige to the Catalan language and culture; others include the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Library of Catalonia), the Escola Industrial (Industrial School), the Escola Superior de Belles Arts (Higher School of Fine Arts) and the Escola del Treball (School of Labour), el Centre de Recerca Matemàtica
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica
The Centre de Recerca Matemàtica is a consortium, with its own legal status, integrated by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans and the Catalan Government . It is a research institute associated with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona...
. Prat de la Riba also founded the Escola de l'Administració Local (School of Local Administration), in order to create a body of Catalan civil servants for the regional government.
The IEC was admitted to the Union Académique Internationale
Union Académique Internationale
The Union Académique Internationale is the oldest and largest federation of Academies having a national character and created for international cooperation...
in 1922, shortly after the establishment of the latter.
During the dictatorship of Franco, along with many other Catalan cultural institutions, the Institut lived a semiclandestine existence, and was not officially restored to its previous status in the field of language standardisation until a 1991 bill was passed by the (also restored) Catalan Parliament.
The IEC inspired the creation of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans
Institut d'Estudis Occitans
The Institut d'Estudis Occitans , or IEO, or Occitan Studies Institute, or Institute for Occitan Studies, is a cultural association that was founded in 1945 by a group of Occitan and French writers including Jean Cassou, Tristan Tzara, Ismaël Girard, Max Roqueta, Renat Nelli, and Pierre Rouquette...
in Occitania
Occitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
. Occitania is an area in southern France where Occitan (often called Provençal) has been historically spoken.
Philological Section
The IEC's Philological Section was founded in 1911. Antoni Maria Alcover served as its first president. Along with Pompeu FabraPompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra i Poch was a Catalan grammarian, the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language....
, the Philological Section worked to establish a series of spelling
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
norms that were approved by members in 1913. These became the foundation of modern written Catalan which are still in use today. Similarly, in 1917, the Diccionari Ortogràfic de l'Institut was published; it soon became a dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of spelling norms irredeemably tied to the reputation of former Institute Director Pompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra i Poch was a Catalan grammarian, the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language....
. The dictionary went through several editions, with the last released in 1937. This work and others were the basis of Fabra's Dictionari General de la Llengua Catalana published in 1932, a general-purpose dictionary that became a standard reference work throughout the various Catalan-speaking territories.
Officially the IEC provides standards for the language as a whole: the Philological Section has members from Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
proper, Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
(located in France), the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, Valencia
Valencia
-In Spain:* Valencia , Spain, capital of the Valencia Autonomous Community* Valencian Community, an autonomous community of Spain**Valencian people, an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is the Valencian Community...
, Alghero in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and the Principality of Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
(the only country where Catalan
Catalan
Catalan is an inhabitant of CataloniaCatalan can also refer to:*Catalan people*Catalan language*Països Catalans, territories where Catalan language is spokenPersons with the surname Catalan:*Eugène Charles Catalan, a mathematician...
is the sole official language). However, the Valencian Region south of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
has its own language academy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua , also known by the acronym AVL, is an institution created on September 16, 1998 by the Valencian Parliament, which belongs to the set of official institutions that compose the Generalitat Valenciana, according to the Act of Autonomy of the Valencian...
, which nevertheless formally acknowledges that theirs is one variant of the common language. In an area known as the Franja de Ponent, the eastern edge of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
adjacent to Catalonia where Catalan is spoken by about 44,000 inhabitants, the rules are followed de facto although Catalan is not an official language in that region.
Other IEC works of note include the Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana published in 1995, and the regionally sensitive Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear (Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
-Valencian
Valencian
Valencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
-Balearic Dictionary). Notable members of the Philological Section include Josep Carner
Josep Carner
Josep Carner i Puig-Oriol , was a Catalan poet, journalist, playwright and translator. He was also known as the Prince of Catalan Poets.-Biography:...
, Àngel Guimerà
Àngel Guimerà
Àngel Guimerà i Jorge was a Spanish Canarian writer, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, to a Catalan father and a Canary islander mother...
and Joan Maragall
Joan Maragall
Joan Maragall i Gorina was a Catalan poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the modernisme movement in literature.-Life:...
.
External links
- IEC Website
- On-line IEC Catalan Dictionary
- Centennial of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
- http://www.mercerodoreda.cat/The ICE's Mercè RodoredaMercè RodoredaMercè Rodoreda i Gurguí was a Spanish Catalan novelist in the Catalan language.She is considered by many to be the most important Catalan novelist of the postwar period...
Foundation] - Centre de Recerca Matemàtica