La Gramática de la lengua española de Alarcos (1994), testimonio de la lingüística del siglo xx y de la fidelidad a los objetivos de la Real Academia Española

The present contribution focuses on the critical analysis of Emilio Alarcos' Gramática de la lengua española, published in 1994. The author essentially tries to show, in accordance with the title of the work, that the work studied represents a testimony of the most characteristic linguistics of the twentieth century - functional linguistics - and, at the same time, it also constitutes an example of fidelity to the objectives of the Real Academia Española. It consists of a brief Introduction followed by five sections and closes with a Conclusion. In the first section, the essential characteristics of the GLE are given in the light of the commentary on the reviews it has been the subject of (from its appearance until barely seven years ago). The second section explains the reasons which determine the parts of the work: the inclusion of the contents of the work and the exclusion of the study of lexical formation. The third section is devoted to an exposition of the theoretical principles which, within linguistic functionalism, underpin the description of GLE. The fourth section analyses the normative dimension of Alarcos' text, a reflection of his own conception of the linguistic norm. The last section focuses on the pedagogical aim of the GLE, a testimony of fidelity to the academic tradition. Finally, in the Conclusion, it is stressed that the GLE is the culmination of Alarcos' study of the linguistic system of the Spanish language as an expressive tool.