Arturo Agüero Chaves

Arturo Agüero Chaves (March 28, 1907 – May 11, 2001), was a Costa Rican writer, poet, philologist, lexicographer and educator. Along with Aquileo J. Echeverría, he is one of the greatest exponents of Costa Rican costumbrismo. He is also considered the father of modern linguistics in Costa Rica.

Life and career Born Pedro Piedades Chaves Umaña in San José, Costa Rica, on March 28, 1907, he was the illegitimate son of Engracia Chaves Umaña and José María Agüero Barboza. After losing his mother to tuberculosis at the age of 15, Pedro Chaves moved in with his father and changed his name to Arturo Agüero Chaves. By the time he was 21 years old, Agüero was already publishing his poetry in local newspapers. He studied at Escuela Normal de Heredia and began his career as a Latin and Spanish Literature professor in 1929. While teaching at Liceo de Costa Rica and Instituto de Alajuela, Agüero made a name for himself as a prominent educator. He went on to serve as principal at various Costa Rican public schools and as a Spanish language teacher in Florida in the late 1940s. When the first Costa Rican college of humanities was founded at the University of Costa Rica, Agüero was among its first-ever faculty members. At University of Costa Rica, he engaged in extensive research on philology and became one of the University's most distinguished professors. Agüero published most of his literary work during his 15 years as Chair of the Department of Philology, Linguistics and Literature at University of Costa Rica. over which he would preside from 1981 until his death in 2001. and the North American Academy of the Spanish Language. He was bestowed honorary citizenship in San Ramón in 1978, and in Alajuela in 1979. In 1984, he received the Magón National Prize for Culture, the highest honour awarded by the Costa Rican government to national artists and intellectuals. He was named "Guest of Honor" in Tampa, Mexico City, Puebla City, Paris, Managua and Lima.

Works

Poetry El Romancero Tico (1940) La Lechuza (1950)

Philology Estudios Lingüísticos desde la Antigüedad hasta 1800 Historia de la Lingüística Crónicas del Segundo Congreso de Academias de la Lengua Española Nuevas Normas de Prosodia y Ortología El Español de América y Costa Rica (1962) Literatura y Gramática Castellana (1963) Literatura y Gramática Españolas (1968) El Español de América (1973) Origen y Desarrollo de la Lingüística (1977) Diccionario de Costarriqueñismos y Fonología y Fonética Españolas (1996)