Dr Badia i Margarit: In Memoriam

DR. BADIA I MARGARIT

1920-2014

"He committed to Catalonia at the hardest of times, dignifying his country through his tireless work, his excellent research and teaching"

Artur Mas

129th President of Catalonia

“He let us understand that Catalan was a language which is as strong and powerful as any other Latin language, and we owe him a lot of the certainty we have over the future of the Catalan language.”

Ferran Mascarell

@ferranmascarell

Catalan Minister of Culture

As he said “If one day Catalan becomes extinct, it will not be because Catalan has been imposed on Spanish speakers, but because Catalan speakers will stop speaking their own language. Therefore, every Catalan has the responsibility and obligation to preserve our their language. We already know that we cannot ask that everybody be a hero—but perhaps we can ask that they be a little bit more heroic.”

Diversity of Gazes

Understanding Nothing

Catalan language depends on Catalans

Montserrat Tura

@montserrat_tura

Doctor, Minister of Justice of Catalonia (2006-2010), Minister of Home Affairs of Catalonia (2003-2006), Mayoress of Mollet del Vallès (1997-2003)

"I met him in 1986 at the 2nd Catalan Language Congress. Already back then he was one of the greatest ambassadors and defenders of Catalan during Franco's dictatorship. I always admired his scientific rigor and his non-partisanship—he always thought about the common good."

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Ramon Tremosa

@ramontremosa

Member European Parliament

"One of the great figures of the Catalan language, and by extension, of philology worldwide. He governed the University of Barcelona during the (Spanish) transition (from dictatorship to democracy), carrying out a task almost of re-foundation."

"I was expelled from the Spanish Parliament for speaking Catalan"

Alfred Bosch

@alfredbosch

Member Spanish Congress

"Now that everyone is talking about structures of state (for Catalonia), I'd like to say that Professor Badia i Margarit was one. He leaves us with a completed language, with contributions that make it possible for Catalan to be a dynamic, modern means of communication. Badia i Margarit was a scientist who also wanted to be a man of state and make a contribution allowing us to be where we are now."

Salvador Cot

@salvadorcot

Journalist and editor of the news digital NacioDigital @NacioDigital

Fifty years ago I was a teenager who did not know who Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was. I was beginning to discover my life—and my country’s life. I was also beginning to appreciate my language and my culture, which had survived in a mysterious way, because nobody taught them at school. One day, a sudden burst of conscience and intuition told me that my country was a surrendered and occupied one. Read more..

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Llibert Ferri

@LlibertFerri

Journalist

"A Catalan committed to the Catalan language and his country to the point of merging with them. Badia I Margarit’s life was a life-long battle so that Catalonia and Catalan acquired the dignity they deserve"

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Quim Torra

@Quimtorra

Lawyer and editor

"We need our own independent country also to give proper, official recognition to professor A. M. Badia. Sadly, most Catalans will not be able to know what a great person he was—a true christian, scientist, and a patriot."

Salvador Cardús

@salvadorcardus

Sociologist, journalist, writer, and PhD in Economics

"Dr. Badia i Margarit, the sage of the Catalan language, was the foundation of Catalan linguistics during the 2nd half of the 20th century. 

Despite the darkness of Francoism, and because of his wide relationships with several European universities, he was able to update and internationalise the Catalan language.

Albert Royo

@A_RoyoMarine

Secretary General Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia

"We will remember him often and faithfully accompanied at many academic events by his wife Maria Cardús i Almeda, until she died in 2007. Beyond the many examples of his erudition and leadership, professor Badia i Margarit will remembered -and missed- as an elegant, affable, warm and respectful person, always extremely courteous."

Miquel Strubell

@mstrubell

Promoter of the Catalan national assembly

"The fighting, optimistic Dr. Antoni Maria Badia was able to lay out an extraordinary geography of Catalan linguistics. He also left us poignant, fitting phrases such as "Our language will not disappear because those who do not speak it do not learn it, but those who do speak it give it up."
Dr. Antoni-Maria Badia has left us, and our language already misses him!"

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Salmaldon

@salmaldonart

Exhibition of contemporary art

"Dr. Badia i Margarit was generosity and willingness to serve the country.He also transformed the university to serve the country.

Accentuating his civic dimension, if I had to highlight his scientific work he continued the work of Pompeu Fabra and link it with the currents of contemporary linguistics and philology. While Spanish language studies were closed in autarky, he opened the University of Barcelona in the current modern language studies."

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Joan Badia Pujol 

Deputy Director of Permanent Education and Pedagogical Resources in the Catalan Government (2004-2006), Director of Innovation in the Catalan Government (2006-2009), Deputy Director of Academic University Planning in the Catalan Government (2009-2010), Deputy Director of European Higher Education (2009-2010).

"The thing that impressed me the most about professor Badia was his deep appreciation for our language. This influenced me so much that, ever since I met him, I became a firm believer in not just speaking our own language, but in speaking it well. He used to say—and I agree with him completely—that, when it comes to language matters, half-hearted positions are never good. We either do it well, or we do it badly. In the end, his appreciation for our language was a surrogate for his love of our country. Professor Badia gave an international projection to both our country and our language—but he never forgot our deep roots.”

Josep Puigbó

@joseppuigbo @savis_33

Journalist

“I was lucky enough to meet him after he was granted the Honor Award of Catalan Literature in 2003. I was particularly struck by the humbleness that that endearing, polite elderly man exuded. His dedication to the Catalan language was wholly altruistic, and he even felt virtually embarrassed to have his publicly recognised by that award. His contribution was purely and simply out of personal conviction. A great lesson and example to all:fewer egos,more commitment. Thank you wherever you are."

Miquel Martin Gamisans

@gamisans

Communications consultant

"I met Dr. Badia when I was 20—a long time ago. I was surprised by his simplicity, humility, and enthusiasm to learn from everyone. During the years of our relationship, he and his wife sponsored me to become a member of AILLC (Catalan Language and Literature International Association). Thanks to this, I had the chance of developing an early concept of what many years later and in very different circumstances and with very different resources would become a new project—Help Catalonia.”

Anna Aroca

@AnnaAroca @helpcatalonia

Teacher, Communicator and HC member

Badia i Margarit: "The future of Catalan Language depends on Catalans"

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was instrumental in reintroducing linguistics studies in Catalonia’s universities after the 1936-1939 war. The Catalan language had been banned and Catalan speakers persecuted during the two military dictatorships in the 20th century. He used to say that back in his elementary school days he would hide his notebooks written in Catalan inside bathroom cabinets.

He was hired as a university professor to teach Spanish grammar and historical linguistics, fully aware that Catalan was being persecuted, censored, frowned upon. He was one of the key promoters of Catalan inside and outside the university, and helped organize intellectuals that would care for it, write in it, ...read more...

Badia i Margarit: My teacher

Fifty years ago I was a teenager who did not know who Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was. I was beginning to discover my life—and my country’s life. I was also beginning to appreciate my language and my culture, which had survived in a mysterious way, because nobody taught them at school. 

One day, a sudden burst of conscience and intuition told me that my country was a surrendered and occupied one. After school, I used to love going to bookstores and I would space out in front of bookshelves full of books written in Catalan. I discovered Llibreria Ona in Gran Via, and a book which I devoured, “Dues llengues, dues funcions?” (“Two Languages, Two Functions”) by Francesc Vallverdú, who passed away Read more....

IEC: Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit, some of his work

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit completed his studies at the Estudis Universitaris Catalans and the University of Barcelona, where he graduated in Romance Philology in 1943. His doctoral thesis was based on a study of historical morphology (1947), which was led by Dámaso Alonso. 

By 1948, he was already senior lecturer in historical grammar of the Spanish language at the University of Barcelona, and in 1977, for the historical grammar of the Catalan language too. ...Read more...

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit

Doctor Badia i Margarit

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit (Barcelona, 1920-2014) was a linguist. 

In 1943 he graduated in Romance Philology at the University of Barcelona and, in 1945, he obtained a PhD from the Arts Faculty at the Ciudad Universitaria (University City) of Madrid, after which he was appointed Professor of Spanish Historical Grammar at the University of Barcelona in 1948. This Chair came under the auspices of the Chair of Catalan Historical Grammar in 1977. In 1951 he published Gramática histórica catalana(Catalan Historical Grammar), which eventually appeared in Catalan in 1981. He was a visiting scholar at the universities of Munich (1959-1960), Georgetown (1961-1962) and Wisconsin (1967-1968) ...read more... 

“It is necessary to highlight the historical dimension; present is normally explained by means of the past”Joan Veny

Joan Veny, professor emeritus of Catalan: “It is necessary to highlight the historical dimension; present is normally explained by means of the past”

Joan Veny 08/01/2013

Joan Veny (Campos, Mallorca, 1032) holds a PhD in Philosophy and Letters from the UB (1956) and he is professor emeritus of Catalan at the University (2002). He has been member of the Philological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies since 1978, and from 1994 to 2000 he was the president of the International Association of Catalan Language and Literature. The Cross of St George was conferred on him by the Government of Catalonia (1997), he was the president of the Atles Linguistique Roman (1999), ...read more...

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit, my first grammarian

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catalan Grammar by Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit. Next year, it will be twenty years since I bought my own copy—the one in the picture. In 2005, I was about to obtain my Catalan language certificate, and I enrolled in the Rosa Sensat school to prepare for placement test K. On the first day of school, our teacher, Carmen Font, gave us a long list of books to be used in the course. 

That long tirade of titles would go on for an hour and a half. Out of all those dictionaries, grammars, and manuals, I was familiar only with DIEC (Dictionary of the Institute for Catalan Studies,) and the famous ...Read more.....

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"Only together will we reach independence" Dr Badia i Margarit

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Badia i Margarit: My teacher

Fifty years ago I was a teenager who did not know who Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was. I was beginning to discover my life—and my country’s life. I was also beginning to appreciate my language and my culture, which had survived in a mysterious way, because nobody taught them at school. 

One day, a sudden burst of conscience and intuition told me that my country was a surrendered and occupied one. After school, I used to love going to bookstores and I would space out in front of bookshelves full of books written in Catalan. I discovered Llibreria Ona in Gran Via, and a book which I devoured, “Dues llengues, dues funcions?” (“Two Languages, Two Functions”) by Francesc Vallverdú, who passed away not too long ago. 

I got to know how the supremacy of one language, Spanish, was imposed on us, and how Catalan, our very own language, had been put down. And I discovered, paradoxically, that many speakers of Spanish, those who had emigrated recently from Spain, were as illiterate in their language as we Catalans were in ours. 

Fully conscious of the socio-cultural tragedy taking place in my country, I dared ask my language and literature teacher at the time, Ms. Maria Rosa Espot, that we debate in class about this issue. “It would be too risky”, she told me. 

I felt her fear. However, not losing a beat, Ms. Espot encouraged me to keep reading and thinking, and she recommended to me “a great book by a great teacher, “La llengua dels barcelonins,” (The language of the Barcelonians) by professor Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit.” Ms. Espot was unable to not say her teacher’s name in a solemn and determined tone—an intense tone that I have never forgotten.

Llibert Ferri

@llibertFerri

Journalist and writer

Other articles by this author:

- Europe’s Red Lines- 
- The Baltic Way was the key to victory for the Singing Revolution

More about this topic here
Other Special Colaborators articles here
More about Catalan language here

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Badia i Margarit: "The future of Catalan Language depends on Catalans"

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was instrumental in reintroducing linguistics studies in Catalonia’s universities after the 1936-1939 war. The Catalan language had been banned and Catalan speakers persecuted during the two military dictatorships in the 20th century. He used to say that back in his elementary school days he would hide his notebooks written in Catalan inside bathroom cabinets.

He was hired as a university professor to teach Spanish grammar and historical linguistics, fully aware that Catalan was being persecuted, censored, frowned upon. He was one of the key promoters of Catalan inside and outside the university, and helped organize intellectuals that would care for it, write in it, protect it, and work against its dwindling during the Franco years.

Probably, his main personal features were his politeness, and his profoundly civilized demeanor. However, when he engaged in debate, his propriety and openmindness did not stop him from defending fervently his ideas in favor of the unity of our language and nation. He was a serious scholar and activist with extensive knowledge of the issues.

During his seminal tasks to update language’s tools to adapt to a new reality, especially his two grammars he published a few years apart (1962 i 1994), and his introduction to sociolinguistics studies, he proved to be an indefatigable supporter of a scientific view of Catalan language and of its place in the world. However, he did not have a nostalgic, self-complacent vision of the past, in spite of his ample knowledge of historical linguistics. He was crucial in turning Catalan language studies into a normal activity, although he always gave credit to Joan Corominas.

Concerning the defense of our language, we should not forget that he was highly militant and critical, “If one day Catalan becomes extinct, it will not be because Catalan has been imposed on Spanish speakers, but because Catalan speakers will stop speaking their own language. Therefore, every Catalan has the responsibility and obligation to preserve our their language. We already know that we cannot ask that everybody be a hero—but perhaps we can ask that they be a little bit more heroic.”

He is already resting in peace in the undying dream, but he left us important work to do, to never stop defending the most valuable cultural treasure we have—our own language.

Montserrat Tura 

@Montserrat_Tura

Doctor

Minister of Justice of Catalonia (2006-2010)

Minister of Home Affairs of Catalonia (2003-2006)

Mayoress of Mollet del Vallès (1997-2003)

Other articles by this author:

Diversity of Gazes

Understanding Nothing

Read more »

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit

Doctor Badia i Margarit

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit (Barcelona, 1920-2014) was a linguist. 

In 1943 he graduated in Romance Philology at the University of Barcelona and, in 1945, he obtained a PhD from the Arts Faculty at the Ciudad Universitaria (University City) of Madrid, after which he was appointed Professor of Spanish Historical Grammar at the University of Barcelona in 1948. This Chair came under the auspices of the Chair of Catalan Historical Grammar in 1977. In 1951 he published Gramática histórica catalana(Catalan Historical Grammar), which eventually appeared in Catalan in 1981. He was a visiting scholar at the universities of Munich (1959-1960), Georgetown (1961-1962) and Wisconsin (1967-1968). 

In 1969 he published the study La Llengua dels barcelonins (The Language of the People of Barcelona), which was followed by the survey La llengua catalana ahir i avui (Catalan Language Yesterday and Today, 1973). In 1974 he went to Paris to teach as an associate professor at the Sorbonne in the academic years 1974-1975 and 1975-1976. In 1977 Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Barcelona, a position he occupied until 1986 when he retired from the university where he had devoted a great part of his efforts and many years of his life. 

Fruit of his experience at the university is the book Llavor de futur. Vuit anys al rectorat de la Universitat de Barcelona (Seed of the Future: Eight Years in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at the University of Barcelona, 1989). 

His body of work as a whole is extensive and of great significance and includes the outstanding titles Ciència i passió dins la cultura catalana (Science and Passion in Catalan Culture, 1977), La formació de la llengua catalana: assaig d'interpretació històrica (The Shaping of the Catalan Language: An Essay in Historical Interpretation, 1981), Llengua i societat: etapes de la normalització (Language and Society: Stages of Standardisation, 1981) and Llengua i poder. Textos de sociolingüística catalana(Language and Power: Texts in Catalan Sociolinguistics, 1986). He also wrote Sons i fonemes de la llengua catalana (Sounds and Phonemes of the Catalan Language, 1988), La llengua catalana: un procés multisecular (The Catalan Language: A Centuries-Long Process, 1988), Gramàtica de la llengua catalana: descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica (A Grammar of the Catalan Language: Descriptive, Normative, Diatopic and Diastratic, 1994), Les Regles de esquivar vocables i la «qüestió de la llengua» (Rules for Vocables and the "Language Question", 1999), and Apologia i vindicació de la llengua catalana (An Apologia for and Vindication of the Catalan Language, 2004). 

He was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by, inter alia, the universities of Salzburg (1972), Toulouse II - Le Mirail (1978) and the Sorbonne (1986). He was named Honorary Vice-Chancellor of the University of Barcelona in 1986 and has also been awarded the prestigious Creu de Sant Jordi (St George Cross) by the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia (1986), and the Medal for Scientific Merit by the Barcelona City Council (1999). In 2003 he received the Catalan Letters Award of Honour and in 2012, the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC. 
Documentation: Toni Terrades and Josep Martínez. 
Photographs: © Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya - Biblioteca Badia-Cardús. 
Translation by Julie Wark. 

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IEC: Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit, some of his work

(Barcelona, 1920 - 2014)

Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit completed his studies at the Estudis Universitaris Catalans and the University of Barcelona, where he graduated in Romance Philology in 1943. His doctoral thesis was based on a study of historical morphology (1947), which was led by Dámaso Alonso. 

By 1948, he was already senior lecturer in historical grammar of the Spanish language at the University of Barcelona, and in 1977, for the historical grammar of the Catalan language too. 
 Badia i Margarit devoted himself to research in the field of historical linguistics, particularly the Catalan language, and followed the great traditions of Ramón Menéndez Pidal: morphologic, phonetic, semantic and general themes ("Estudios de fonética y fonología catalanas" (Studies in Catalan phonetics and phonology), 1948). He was also interested in dialectology, linguistic geography ("Atlas lingüístic del domino català"/Linguistic Atlas of the presence of Catalan) and onomastics, comparative studies, the history of linguists, linguistic sociology and grammar (Llengua i cultura als Països Catalans, 1964 and La llengua dels barcelonins, 1969).

He attended congresses and lived in Germany (Heidelberg) and the USA (Georgetown, Washington, Madison). In addition to his teaching and research work, he also produced a number of publications such as: "Gramática histórica catalana" (Historical Catalan Grammar) (1951, translated into Catalan in 1981) and "Gramática catalana" (Catalan Grammar) (1962), "La llengua catalana ahir i avui" (Catalan Language yesterday and today" (1973), "Vint-i-cinc anys d'estudis sobre la llengua i la literatura catalanes. La llengua" (25 years of studies about Catalan language and literature)(1976), "Ciència i passió dins la cultura  catalana"

(Science and passion in Catalan culture" (1977), "Formulari administratiu, aplicat especialment a la Universitat" (Administrative form, applied especially to the University) ( (1979), in collaboration with Carles Duarte, "La formació de la llengua catalana. Assaig d'interpretació històrica" (The formation of the Catalan language. Test of historical interpretation) (1981) and "Llengua i poder" (Language and power) (1986), "Gramàtica Catalana. Descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica" (Catalan grammar. Descriptive, normative, diatopic, diastratic) (1995), "Les Regles de esquivar vocables" (Rules of avoiding words) i 'la qüestió de la llengua’ (The language issue)(1999).

2012, Receiving the Gold Medal of the Catalan Government

Since 1987, he’s been head of the PatRom Catalan Team (Patronymica Romanica), working in the preparation of a dictionary of Romance lineage coordinated by the University of Trier (Germany). He’s been director of the magazine Estudis Romànics since 2000. He was also the president of the Associació Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (1973-76) and the Grup Català de Sociolingüística in 1974, as well as the vice-chancellor of the University of Barcelona (1978-86), of which he is currently the emeritus vice-chancellor. He was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universities of Salzburg (1972), Tolosa (1980), Sorbonne (1986), Perpignan (1989), Knox College of Galesburg (Illinois, 1990), Alicante (2002) and Valencia (2005). He is also a member of the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona(1955) and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (1968). In 1995 he was awarded by the Fundació Jaume I and by the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca in 1996. He received the Gold Medal of the City of Barcelona [Medalla d'Or de la Ciutat de Barcelona] in 1999 for his scientific merits, and also the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes (2003). In 2012 he received de Gold Medal of the Catalan Government (Generalitat)

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“It is necessary to highlight the historical dimension; present is normally explained by means of the past”Joan Veny

Joan Veny, professor emeritus of Catalan: “It is necessary to highlight the historical dimension; present is normally explained by means of the past”

Joan Veny 08/01/2013

Joan Veny (Campos, Mallorca, 1032) holds a PhD in Philosophy and Letters from the UB (1956) and he is professor emeritus of Catalan at the University (2002). He has been member of the Philological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies since 1978, and from 1994 to 2000 he was the president of the International Association of Catalan Language and Literature. The Cross of St George was conferred on him by the Government of Catalonia (1997), he was the president of the Atles Linguistique Roman (1999), and of the Board of Management of Termcat. He also received the medal of the secondary school Màrius Torres of Lleida and the Award of the Catalan Foundation for Research (2004). He was named illustrious child of his native town (2006) and doctor honoris causa by the University of Valencia (2008). On 20th December, a ceremony to commemorate his 80th birthday took place at the University of Barcelona. During the event his latest book De geolingüística i etimologia romàniques was presented.

This text is an extract from the dialogue that Joan Veny held with the professor of Romance Languages José Enrique Gargallo. The dialogue is part of the video series entitled 15 minutes with… published on the website of the UB. You can watch the full conversation on this link.

Professor of Romance Dialectology

I began mi career as a lecturer of Romance Philology. Doctor Badia, who was in charge of these studies, transferred them to me. I really thank him because people who devote ourselves to Catalan should not limit ourselves to our territory. We must open our mind, broaden our horizons. First, towards substratum languages: Occitan, Aragonese, Spanish, and even Sardinian, if you want; and afterwards, towards the other Roman languages. This will help us to understand some problems that remain unsolved if we close ourselves in considering only our language.

Linguistic Atlas of the Catalan Domain

As time went through, I remained as the only person responsible for this project that aims at studying linguistic diversity related to territory. Together with the professor Badia i Margarit, we developed a survey composed by 2,400 questions about varied topics (human body, diseases, vegetation, pets, etc.) in order to provide a general idea of the state of Catalan between 1960 and 1970. These works have a considerable scope and therefore they need the collaboration of a team of philologists. Joaquim Rafel, Lídia Pons and Joan Martí, among others, collaborated in our project. It is a really innovative project if we compare it with other similar works that we can describe as geolinguistic, because two researchers visited each location. We carried out the survey in 190 towns, the double of towns that were polled in previous atlas, and we collected information about popular, material and spiritual culture. We were also the first to apply in the Iberian Peninsula a direct system for data collection using a tape recorder and we received a grant that allowed us to create a data base which gave birth to the first linguistic atlas in our linguistic domain.

The handbook Els parlars catalans

It is a work I wrote in so little time —maybe in a month— because, in fact, the idea was to write on a paper my experience as a teacher of Catalan Dialectology, a subject that was possible thanks to the invitation of professor Comas. The book was really successful, in my opinion not for its quality, but for the way things were at that moment. In that time, Dialectology was taught at secondary school, curiously, so teachers and even some students were interested in this work which offered a summary of Catalan Dialectology.

The Termcat and the IEC

Thanks to the project of the Linguistic Atlas of the Catalan Domain we were able to build a data base that has allowed us to present this work in a really modern way. As a result of his restructuring, I was part of the different commissions of lexicography, of oral standard vocabulary, that allowed me to accept a great number of dialectalisms that were not present in the corpus developed by the major encoder of our language: Pompeu Fabra. Consequently, helped by different collaborators from several dialectal areas, 700 or 800 dialectalisms were added to the 1995 prescriptive dictionary —the Diccionari de la llengua catalana (DIEC)— as a demand of the society, not the central Catalan one, but the multiple society of Catalan: the one from the Balearic Islands, the one from Rosello, the one from Valencia, the one from Lleida, etc.

Sower of vocations

Unlike some colleagues, I have always had a great respect for students; I think that we can learn a lot from them. When you give a lesson and you observe the reaction of some students, their doubting faces, the questions they are posing to themselves about your words... All that makes you rethink about the explanation given and, therefore, improve it, and increase your knowledge by consulting more works. 

In research, I think I have opened several paths, and I am quite proud because thanks to the work developed by some students we have great studies about Catalan Gallicisms, for example, or a thesis that is going to be read about the sea urchin or about the names given to vines and wines... All these works and many others have been focused not only on Catalan from an internal point of view, but also, as I stated at the beginning, they have broaden our horizons and they can be described as brilliant Romance studies.

Advice to Philology students

I would say to them that life does not give anything without an effort, they must work hard. Today, the culture of effort is in decline, but it is necessary to highlight the need of that effort, the need of continuous work. In relation to Romance Philology, I would say to them that they should not focus ourselves only on our language, let’s say Italian, French, Occitan or Catalan. Instead, we must broad our horizons and observe what is happening in other languages in order to develop comparative studies, because that will make us progress. I also consider that a forgotten dimension must be highlighted: the diachronic dimension, the historical one; in other words, present is usually explained by means of the past.

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Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit, my first grammarian

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catalan Grammar by Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit. Next year, it will be twenty years since I bought my own copy—the one in the picture. In 2005, I was about to obtain my Catalan language certificate, and I enrolled in the Rosa Sensat school to prepare for placement test K. On the first day of school, our teacher, Carmen Font, gave us a long list of books to be used in the course. 

That long tirade of titles would go on for an hour and a half. Out of all those dictionaries, grammars, and manuals, I was familiar only with DIEC (Dictionary of the Institute for Catalan Studies,) and the famous instruction manuals by Ruaix. Overwhelmed, during break hour I approached Carme and I told her that I did not see myself reading that whole stack of books by May—when the final test was due. 

She reassured me, “Dude, you don’t have to read them all! However, you should have an inkling of what they are about, and you need to use them as reference.” Just when I was about to reply that to in order to know what a book is about, one needs to read it, the bell rang and we resumed class.

The following day (I remember it like it was today) I went into the local bookstore with five pages full of reference works, and I headed straight for the dictionaries and grammars section. And there I saw it, waiting for me, the Grammar of the Catalan language—descriptive, normative, dialectal, and historical—by professor Badia. Without fully understanding what any of those adjectives meant, I got a copy, paid for it, and I brought it home. I sat down and, almost with reverential respect, I read the prologue and indexes and started to browse it. I was in shock. So, there are different registers of language? Besides correct and incorrect expressions, there are also those that are OK depending on who, where, and when someone uses them? A few hours later I thought I was in trouble. I had been so naive of thinking that, because I had my Catalan level D diploma, I could clearly discern what is correct and what is not!

In the following weeks I bought more dictionaries and grammars, and I immersed myself in them. My language skills began to grow gradually right under my astonished eyes. After professor Badia’s work—my first grammarian—I went on with Joan Solà’s grammar—we will never regret enough having lost him. After that, the Manual of Style by Mestre, Costa, Oliva, and Fité; and DUVC by Ginebra i Montserrat. In May of 2005 I passed the K-level exam, and now I am proofreader of Catalan. Thank you, professor Badia, for making my life more complicated!

Marc Guarro

Language professional

http://marcguarro.blogspot.com/

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