Txillardegi

José Luis Álvarez Enparantza (27 September 1929 – 14 January 2012), better known by his pseudonym Txillardegi, was a Basque linguist, politician, and writer. He was born and raised in the Basque Country, and although he did not learn the Basque language until the age of 17, he later came to be considered one of the most influential figures in Basque nationalism and culture in the second half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of ETA, but in 1967 he left because he did not agree with its political line.

== Literary and academic work == Álvarez Enparantza (the maternal surname was sometimes Hispanicised as Emparanza) studied engineering at the University of Bilbao, and linguistics at the University of Paris. In 1957, he became a corresponding member of the Euskaltzaindia (Academia de la Lengua Vasca, Academy of the Basque Language), which adopted most of his proposals on the orthography and morphology of Standard Basque. In 1993 he became a member of its Commission on Pronunciation. His name was put forward twice to become a full member of the Euskaltzaindia but he was turned down for political reasons. When he was going to be proposed for a third time, he himself turned down the proposal.