The linguist Joan Veny i Clar (Campos, 1932) has received the highest academic and civil distinctions. Among other recognitions, he is Doctor Honoris Causa by the universities of Valencia and the Balearic Islands; he has received the Medal of Honor from the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats, the Creu de Sant Jordi, the prize of Honor of Catalan Letters, the Pompeu Fabra prize, the Gold Medal of the Balearic Islands. He is also an Illustrious Son of Campos (where the Infant and Primary school also bears his name). Now that the great work for the Catalan language, the Linguistic Atlas of the Catalan Domain, has been completed, the dialectologist has received the Special ARA Balears prize.

"But is this correct?" is one of the most common questions philologists hear. It's often accompanied by a cautious gesture, as if language were a treacherous terrain where one must move carefully to avoid "committing a barbarism." Behind this uncertainty lies a widespread idea: that there is someone, a kind of invisible authority, who knows exactly what "speaking correctly" means.