Arturo Pérez-Reverte, one of Spain's most prominent authors, has launched a sharp attack on the country's top linguistic authority, accusing it of surrendering standards to social media trends and online personalities. The author said the Spanish Royal Academy now gives more weight to influencers than to accomplished writers.
Writing in El Mundo, Pérez-Reverte argued that "an illiterate pundit, YouTuber or influencer" can now shape the language more than a Cervantes Prize winner. The novelist, himself a member of the academy, said the views of professional writers are increasingly ignored when decisions about language are made.
More specifically, he accused what he called the academy's "anything goes" faction of tolerating errors and trivializing Spanish under the guise of reflecting common usage. Writers, he said, do more than preserve language... they actively shape its future, making their marginalization especially damaging.
Pérez-Reverte also dismissed the idea that the academy should merely record how language is used rather than define correctness. Accepting every popular construction, he warned, empties the concept of correct language of meaning and opens the door to pressure from politics, media and social platforms.
The academy declined to comment publicly but sources said his criticism would be formally reviewed. They added that Pérez-Reverte will be invited to defend his arguments before the full body, suggesting the debate over who controls the evolution of Spanish is far from over... What do you think about the author's comments?