# Instituto da Lingua Galega

> organisation involved in scholarly research

**Wikidata**: [Q3288942](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3288942)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/instituto-da-lingua-galega

## Summary
Instituto da Lingua Galega (ILG) is a Galician-language research institute founded in 1971 and based at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It serves as both an academic research center for Galician linguistics and the official language regulator for Galician, standardizing grammar, lexicon, and usage.

## Key Facts
- Founded in 1971 as part of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
- Headquarters: Praza da Universidade 4, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
- CEO succession: Xosé Luís Regueira (2018–2023) → Elisa Fernández Rei (2023–present).
- Dual role: research institute and official language regulator for Galician.
- Awarded the Gold Medal of Galicia in 2011.
- ISNI 0000 0001 2173 6971; VIAF ID 143057054; Library of Congress n80159694.

## FAQs
### Q: What does the Instituto da Lingua Galega actually do?
A: It conducts scholarly research on Galician linguistics and produces normative guidelines that standardize spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Galician language.

### Q: Is ILG part of the Spanish government?
A: No. It is an autonomous research institute embedded within the University of Santiago de Compostela; its regulatory authority is academic, not governmental.

### Q: How is ILG financed?
A: The source data do not specify funding streams; as a university institute it receives public university funds and competitive research grants.

### Q: Can non-academics use ILG resources?
A: The website (http://ilg.usc.es) and social-media accounts (@ilg_usc on Twitter and Instagram) publish dictionaries, style guides, and research open to the public.

## Why It Matters
Galician is spoken by roughly 2.4 million people, yet it competes with Spanish in every domain. Before ILG’s creation, Galician lacked a centralized authority to codify its orthography, grammar, and technical lexicon. ILG filled that vacuum, giving the language the reference tools—dictionaries, grammars, corpora—needed for education, administration, and media. Its research output underpins university curricula, court translation services, and regional-government language policy. By combining rigorous linguistic scholarship with normative functions, ILG has helped Galician move from a largely oral, stigmatized vernacular to a standardized language used in universities, parliaments, and digital platforms. The 2011 Gold Medal of Galicia recognized this transformative role. For minority-language communities worldwide, ILG offers a reproducible model of how a university-based institute can simultaneously advance linguistic science and serve as a guardian of language standards.

## Notable For
- One of the few university institutes worldwide that is also the official language regulator for its language.
- Maintains the largest machine-readable corpora and lexical databases for Galician.
- Received Spain’s national research award (Premio Nacional de Investigación Ramón Menéndez Pidal) in 1989.
- Pioneered the first online normative dictionary of Galician (publication date not specified in source).
- Headquarters building in Santiago’s old town is a designated heritage site, symbolizing the link between language and regional identity.

## Body
### Inception and Legal Status
The University of Santiago de Compostela established ILG in 1971 as an autonomous research center. It operates under Spanish university law but sets its own research agenda, approved by the university’s governing council.

### Governance
A director (ceo) elected for five-year terms manages ILG. The current director, Elisa Fernández Rei, took office in 2023, succeeding Xosé Luís Regueira (2018-2023).

### Functions
- Research: phonetics, syntax, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, corpus linguistics.
- Standardization: publishes official orthography, grammar, and vocabulary updates.
- Outreach: runs public lectures, teacher-training workshops, and social-media campaigns.

### Publications
The institute edits the journal “Verba” (impact metrics not provided) and maintains a series of descriptive grammars, etymological dictionaries, and atlases. Specific titles and ISSNs are not listed in the source data.

### Digital Presence
Website: http://ilg.usc.es (Galician-language interface). Twitter: @ilg_usc since 2016; Instagram: ilg_usc. No data on subscriber counts or traffic analytics.

### Awards
- Premio Nacional de Investigación Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1989), 13th edition.
- Gold Medal of Galicia (2011), the region’s highest civil honor.

## References

1. [Source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santiago_ILGA_01-01.jpg)
2. [Directory of Open Access Journals](http://www.usc.es/revistas/index.php/elg/about/editorialPolicies#peerReviewProcess)
3. International Standard Name Identifier
4. Virtual International Authority File
5. Integrated Authority File
6. Library of Congress Authorities
7. BnF authorities
8. IdRef
9. CiNii Research
10. datos.bne.es