Igartua Ugarte, Iván

Ivan Igartua (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1972) holds degrees in Slavic Philology (Moscow Lomonosov University, 1995) and Hispanic Philology (Spanish Distance Learning University, 1997) and a PhD in Classic Philology (University of the Basque Country, 2003, Special Award 2005). His research primarily looks at historical linguistics, morphological typology, diachrony, historical morphology of Slavic languages, reconstruction of Proto-Basque and the historical lexicography of the Basque language.

A qualified Slavist and Hispanist (linguistics), he currently serves as Vice-Rector of the Álava Campus of the University of the Basque Country. He has been Associate Professor of Slavic Philology since 2009 (accredited as a Full Professor in 2016). He has held positions in public bodies in the Autonomous Community of the Basque country, including spokesperson for the Basque Advisory Board, and Director of Linguistic Coordination and Research in the Department of Culture of the Basque Government (2010-2013). He was Academic Secretary to the Faculty of Philology, Geography and History at the University of the Basque Country from 2003 to 2007.

In recent years, Professor Igartua has focussed much of his research around language history and typology (from Slavic, Baltic and other Indo-European languages to isolated languages such as Basque). He has published a dozen books in the subject, among them are the collaborative works, "Gramática histórica de la lengua rusa" (2007), and "A Brief History of the Basque Language" (2012). He was co-writer and co-publisher of History of the Basque Language (2018), Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change (2919) released by John Benjamins, and "Basque. Linguistic minorities in Europe online" (Mouton de Gruyter, 2020). He has published 76 papers in high impact publications such as ‘Language’, ‘Studies in Language’, ‘Diachronica’, ‘Russian Linguistics’, ‘Journal of Indo-European Studies’ e ‘Indogermanische Forschungen’.

He is a member of the Research Group on Historical Linguistics and the History of the Basque Language at the University of the Basque Country, the Institute for Sciences of Antiquity (ICA/AZI), and the Julio de Urquijo Institute/Seminar for Basque Philology. In 2019 he was appointed spokesperson of the Editorial Board of the Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (CILT) series published by John Benjamins.

Beyond his academic and professional work, Ivan Igartua has published two books in Basque: Metroko neska. Ipuinak eta mikroipuinak (Hiria, 2001) and Harrizko hiri hau (Hiria, 2006). He has also collaborated in literary and cultural publications.

In his youth, Ivan Igartua was an athlete and the winner of the high jump (1.94 m) at the Spanish School and Youth Championships at just 14 years old, in 1987. The same year he broke the Spanish record for the same age group with a jump of 1.98 m. He retired from athletics in 2003.

Ivan Igartua is a corresponding member of JAKIUNDE since 8 November 2019.