On November 18, 2026, at 6 PM, Instituto Cervantes de Manila will host a webinar titled “Nebrija: el imperio de las lenguas” (Nebrija: The Empire of Languages), featuring Spanish literary scholar Darío Villanueva.

The online lecture will explore the enduring legacy of grammarian Elio Antonio de Nebrija and his influence on the development and study of languages, including those spoken in the Philippines.

Nebrija, a Spanish humanist and grammarian, is best known for his Gramática de la lengua castellana (Grammar of the Castilian Language), published in 1492. Recognized as the first grammar of a modern European vernacular language, the work became a model for subsequent grammatical studies, extending its influence beyond Castilian to languages across the Americas and Asia.

The webinar will examine Nebrija as a foundation figure in the wider history of language documentation and grammatical scholarship. His intellectual legacy reached the Philippines, where Spanish scholars, missionaries, and religious chroniclers adopted his grammatical categories and analytical framework to study, document, and systematize local languages.

Among the Philippine works that reflect this influence are Francisco Blancas de San José’s Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala (1610), Francisco López’s Arte de la lengua iloca (1627), and Domingo Ezguerra’s Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte (1663). Another notable example is Franciscan friar Melchor de Oyanguren’s Tagalismo elucidado y reducido (en lo posible) a la latinidad de Nebrija (1742), which demonstrates the application of Nebrija’s linguistic tradition to the study of Tagalog. These works illustrate the historical connections between European grammatical scholarship and the documentation of the Philippine languages.

The lecture will be led by Darío Villanueva, Emeritus Professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the University of Santiago de Compostela and a member of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), where he served as director from 2015 to 2019. He has also served as rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela, president of the Instituto de España, and a member of the Council of State.

The author of more than 300 articles on literary theory, criticism, comparative literature, linguistic pragmatics, and language and society, his extensive bibliography includes “Teoría del realismo literario”, “Introducing Comparative Literature: New Trends and Applications” (co-authored with César Domínguez and Haun Saussy), and “El atropello a la razón”. He has received honorary doctorates from fourteen universities across three continents and is affiliated with nine academies of the Spanish language.

The webinar is a collateral activity of the exhibition “Nebrija en Filipinas: La importancia de ser gramático” (Nebrija in the Philippines: The Importance of Being a Grammarian), presented by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in partnership with the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, Fundación Nebrija, and other Spanish and Philippine cultural institutions. Running from October 14, 2026, to February 5, 2027, at the LPU campus in Intramuros, Manila, the exhibition explores Nebrija’s influence on the study and documentation of Philippine languages through historical books, facsimiles, and informative displays.

Through Villanueva’s presentation, the webinar will revisit Nebrija’s contributions to linguistic thought and examine their historical significance in shaping the understanding and documentation of languages. It will also provide an opportunity to reflect on the complex linguistic and cultural exchanges that have connected Spain and the Philippines, emphasizing the enduring role of language and grammar as bridges between nations.

Interested audience on the talk can register here.

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