Francisco A. Marcos-Marín facts for kids
Francisco Adolfo Marcos-Marín was born on June 20, 1946, in Madrid, Spain. He is a very important Spanish linguist, which means he studies languages. He is now a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Translation at the University of Texas at San Antonio. This means he is a retired professor who is still highly respected.
Before this, he taught at famous universities in Rome, Madrid, and Valladolid. He is also a special member of language academies in North America and Argentina. He is even an Honorary Citizen of San Antonio, Texas, in the United States.
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What He Has Achieved
Awards and Important Jobs
Francisco Marcos-Marín received a special award called the Humboldt Research Award in 2004. This award is given to top researchers from outside Germany.
He was also the Academic Director of Instituto Cervantes from 1999 to 2001. This is a big organization that promotes the Spanish language and culture around the world. He also worked as a consultant for UNESCO in China in 1981.
Helping with Language Projects
He helped create important collections of Spanish language examples. These are called "corpora" and include spoken and written Spanish from different places like Argentina, Chile, and central Spain.
He was also a scientific co-director for ADMYTE. This is a special digital archive of old Spanish writings and texts. He also led a project to create an electronic catalog for a collection of books at the National Library of Argentina.
He has been part of many groups that evaluate research in different countries. In 2015, he was chosen as an expert for the European Research Council. This shows how much his work is valued around the world.
How His Work Changed Over Time
Early Studies and Medieval Texts
Francisco Marcos-Marín's studies have always focused on general linguistics and the history of language. He also worked on historical books, like one about how the Spanish language changed and became more modern.
He created the first digital edition of an old Spanish poem called the Libro de Alexandre in 1987. He also made a special edition of the famous Spanish epic poem, the Cantar de Mio Cid, in 1997. This edition included a modern Spanish version to help people understand it better.
Focus on Spanish in the United States
After moving to the United States in 2004, his research began to focus more on language and society. He wrote books like Los Retos del Español (The Challenges of Spanish). He also wrote Se Habla Español (Spanish is Spoken) with another author, Amando de Miguel.
In 2009, he published Más allá de la Ortografía (Beyond Orthography). This was the first Spanish spelling guide made especially for Spanish speakers in the United States and Latin America. It paid close attention to how people speak in those regions. He also helped with the Enciclopedia del Español en los Estados Unidos (Encyclopedia of Spanish in the United States).
Working with Archaeology and Language
Since 2009, he has been working with SHUMLA. This is a research group in Texas that studies archaeology and ancient rock art. He works there as an ethnolinguist, which means he studies how language and culture are connected.
He also started the Spanish Observatory of the United States Inc. This group helps with education and culture related to how Spanish and English interact in the United States. Between 2018 and 2022, he lived in Jerusalem and helped with studies that combined language and archaeology.
Researching Language Origins
He has done a lot of research on where the Spanish language came from. He looks at how different languages mixed together, like Arabic, Latin, and other old languages spoken in Spain. He helped explain that the term "Mozarabic" should be replaced with "Andalusi Romance" when talking about language, to avoid confusing language with religion.
Since 2015, his research has also included studies on Berber and Afro-Romance languages. These are languages that came from African Latin. This work led to him earning a second PhD in 2023. His 2023 book, Dominio y Lenguas en el Mediterráneo Occidental hasta los Inicios del Español, shares these findings.
Francisco A. Marcos-Marín has written over thirty books and more than three hundred papers and reviews. These have been published in many countries and in different languages. He has also given over two hundred talks at international conferences. He has even published two books of poetry and several short stories. He has also shared his knowledge widely on newspapers, radio, and TV in America, Latin America, and Spain.
See also
In Spanish: Francisco A. Marcos Marín para niños
