Honduran Language Academy

The Honduran Language Academy is a group of academics who are experts in the use of the Spanish language in Honduras. The academy was established in the city of Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. on December 28, 1948 and belongs to the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language.

History

Heir to the nineteenth-century scientific-literary Academy (1888) of the Republic of Honduras.

The Honduran Language Academy, during the preparatory meeting held at the residence of Dr. Esteban Guardiola, was established on December 28, 1948, with the constituent members being Dr. Esteban Guardiola, Director; Doctor Silverio Laínez, Censor; Mr. Alejandro Alfaro Arriaga, Secretary; Mr. Juan B. Valladares R., Librarian; Doctor Rafael Heliodoro Valle, Doctor Julián López Pineda, Doctor Luis Andrés Zúñiga, Doctor Marcos Carías Reyes; General Joaquín Bonilla, Doctor Carlos M. Gálvez, Professor Carlos Izaguirre, Mr. Antonio Ochoa Alcántara and Mr. Céleo Murillo Soto.

At the opening of the Honduran Academy, on December 28, 1948, was attended by Mr. Manuel Aznar, grandfather of the former president of the Spanish Government, José María Aznar, who was then present as a Spanish representative at the inauguration of the new Honduran Government, on January 1, 1949.

It has always been an academy that stands out for its dynamism, despite its circumstances:

Thus, the library that, in accordance with its statutory objectives, had treasured for decades, was destroyed by Hurricane Mitch, and efforts are currently being made to rebuild this invaluable bibliographic collection.

Similarly, the commemorative edition of the 400th anniversary of Don Quixote, edited by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) together with the 22 language academies that exist in the Hispanic world, of which close to a million copies were published. copies to be distributed in Spanish-speaking countries, was a proposal from the Honduran Academy of Language. In the words of its Director Oscar Acosta, "In its last Congress the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language met in Puerto Rico in 2002, deliberated on the most appropriate way to celebrate the fourth centenary of the publication of Don Quixote. One of the directors proposed that a contest be held on the life and work of Miguel de Cervantes, another colleague spoke about the possibility of publishing a book of essays with new approaches to Don Quixote; a third suggested that a contest be called to produce a cantata or symphonic concerto about the gentleman of the sad figure; another academic thought of a gigantic mural like the one Oswaldo Guayasamín has at the Barajas airport, wondering if it would be placed in Madrid or La Mancha; and other valuable opinions related to the subject could be heard. It was then that, revealing my profession as a publisher, I proposed to print Don Quixote, in a dignified format and in a popular edition accessible to all budgets and to the devalued monetary units of some of the Ibero-American nations, an idea that was approved by unanimous consensus. &#3. 4;

In the twenty-second edition of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, 2001, the AHL made a valuable contribution to the Spanish-speaking world: 1,950 Hondureñisms were incorporated. Already in the twenty-first edition, 1992, 302 were registered. Thus, it has some 2782 including 400 Honduran demonyms, which makes Spanish-speaking Honduran one of the largest contributors of new lexical elements in that edition of the dictionary.

In 1957, with the signing of the |Cultural Exchange Treaty between Spain and Honduras, both governments pledged that they "will give their support (...) especially to their respective Language Academies." And since 1960, with the ratification in Colombia of the Multilateral Agreement on the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, it has the support of the Government of Honduras, since "Each of the signatory governments undertakes to provide moral and economic support to its respective National Academy of the Spanish Language, that is, to provide it with a venue and an adequate sum for its operation.”

At the end of 2011, given the situation of threats and attacks against the media and "the irrational escalation of violence that has taken the lives of journalists and valuable Hondurans", he made a public statement "for freedom of expression and in favor of tolerance", with the conviction that in order to achieve its mission of defense and enrichment of the language, "the free circulation and expression of ideas is essential".

Since January 2012, and after the presentation of the Central American Library of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library by HRH the Prince of Asturias at the Cultural Center of Spain in Tegucigalpa, it integrates together with the National Library of Honduras, the National Autonomous University of Honduras and the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University the National Commission of the Virtual Library of Honduran Letters: "A milestone that fills all of us who live in the Great Homeland of the language that unites us with pride."

Specialized Publications

Validating the Honduran Language Dictionary with the Tol People

• Revista de la Academia Hondureña de la Lengua, which in 1948 the writer Carlos Izaguirre proposed was named “Hibueras”, which was accepted with enthusiasm.
• In 2005, the Academy published the Hondureñismos Dictionary, with which "It gives the Honduran people its lexicographic heritage the product of its cultural and social practice. The tongue is of the people who speak it, day by day the tongue is made. These Hondurans are faithful testimony to the identity, idiosyncrasy, the ingenuity and creativity of the people."
• In 2009, the Academy jointly edited with the Cultural Center of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation – CCET the compilation of essays and articles on the culture of Honduras by Luis Mariñas Otero.
• In 2013, the Academy edited the Dictionary of the Languages of Honduras. Coordinated by Víctor Manuel Ramos, a prologue of Luis Belzuz de los Ríos: “The Honduran Language Dictionary, the only one in its genre today, is the result of more than three years of constant work and rigorous research under the coordination of His Excellency Doctor and Member of the Honduran Academy of Language, Mr. Víctor Manuel Ramos, with the support of the Cultural Center of Spain in Tegucigalpa in the Spanish Development

Consult the portal dedicated to the linguistic diversity of Honduras Archived December 24, 2013 at the Wayback Machine, with access to the Hondureñismos and the Languages of Honduras DLH dictionaries > from the Honduran Academy of Language AHL.

Academics

Among its members, it is necessary to remember the illustrious figures of Eufemiano Claros, Augusto Monterroso, Eliseo Pérez Cadalso, Jorge Fidel Durón, Manuel Salinas Paguada and Leticia de Oyuela.

Number of academics in order of seniority

Elected Academicians

• Aníbal Delgado Fiallos

Headquarters

The former headquarters of the Honduran Academy of Language was located on 1st Avenue and 3rd Street in Comayagüela and was shared with the Honduran Academy of Geography and History, being practically destroyed with the overflow of the Rio Grande caused by by the passage of Hurricane Mitch. This deterioration, together with the possibility of flooding again due to being located near the river, made the Language Academy give up rebuilding its headquarters on said site. Therefore, through the mediation of the Cultural Center of Spain in Tegucigalpa, the Academy remodeled with funds from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation - AECID a new headquarters in the old Adult Literacy School, on Calle de la Fuente from the Historic Center of Tegucigalpa.

At the inauguration ceremony of this new headquarters, the Minister of Culture Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle stated: "There are other things that the Academy must do, for which it is fair that we help it from the Government and, in particular, from the Ministry of Culture. In particular, I believe that it should play a more active role in the protection of the cultural industries linked to the language: the publishing house in the first place, of course, but also in support of the communication industries. For this reason, apart from requesting an increase in the direct transfer from the central government to the Academy, I promise to include in the budget of the Ministry of Culture an allocation to support specific projects of this nature, but in return we expect the support of the Academy for the visibility, recognition and investigation, rescue and promotion of the other languages of Hondurans, an obligation that must be part of the agreement through which these funds are executed, rather than to settle a historical debt, to assume a inescapable commitment to those native languages."

Annually, through the MAEC Scholarship program Archived January 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine It has two collaboration scholarship holders at its headquarters, under the "I.D Program: Scholarships for Foreigners from Countries with Headquarters of the Corresponding and Associated Academies of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) for Training Collaboration Stays."