On 4 November, the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication will host an exceptional conference dedicated to reflecting on the recent evolution of the Spanish language. Entitled The Recent History of Spanish, Lived and Told by Linguists, the event will bring together eleven distinguished scholars to share how they have lived through—and studied—the key linguistic changes of the past decades.

The conference will take place in the Salón de Grados, with two sessions: a morning session from 11:00 to 13:30 and an afternoon session from 16:00 to 18:30. Participants include prominent figures in Hispanic linguistics: Julio Borrego Nieto, Rafael Cano Aguilar, Manuel Casado Velarde, María Teresa Echenique Elizondo, Salvador Gutiérrez Ordóñez, Humberto Hernández Hernández, Ángel López García, María Antonia Martín Zorraquino, Juan Antonio Moya Corral, Antonio Narbona Jiménez, and Emilio Ridruejo Alonso.

This gathering is inspired by a recent volume that brings together the linguistic biographies of a generation of scholars who came of age in the early 1970s. They have been not only witnesses but also key protagonists in the transformation and colloquialisation of contemporary Spanish. Their accounts reflect both the speaker who experienced change and the researcher who analysed it.

Departing from strictly academic formats, the conference invites us to listen to language as memory, as lived experience. Each author revisits their own journey, opening an intergenerational dialogue on the role of linguists in society and the responsibility of passing on a living legacy.

Organised by the Val.Es.Co. Research Group and the Spanish Language Teaching Unit of the Department of Spanish Philology, this event offers a unique opportunity for students, researchers, and language enthusiasts to understand that the history of Spanish is written not only in books, but also in the voices of those who have lived, studied, and shaped it.

With this initiative, the Faculty reaffirms its commitment to critical reflection and linguistic memory, illuminating the link between those who paved the way and those who now continue it.