Txillardegi

José Luis Álvarez Enparantza (27 September 1929 – 14 January 2012) better known by his pseudonym Txillardegi, was a Basque linguist, politician and writer. Born in San Sebastián (Basque Country), he did not learn the Basque language until the age of 17, but came to be considered one of the most influential figures in Basque nationalism and culture in the second half of the 20th century.

Literary and academic work

Álvarez Enparantza (the maternal surname was sometimes hispanicised as Emparanza) studied engineering in Bilbao, and linguistics in Paris. In 1957, he became a corresponding member of the Euskaltzaindia (Academia de la Lengua Vasca, Academy of the Basque Language), which adopted most of his proposals on the orthography and morphology of Standard Basque. In 1993 he became a member of its Commission on Pronunciation. His name was put forward twice to become a full member of the Euskaltzaindia but he was turned down for political reasons. When he was going to be proposed for a third time, he himself turned down the proposal.