The pluricentric status of Spanish is special in that its Academy has the vocation to “purify, fix, and brighten” it, while at the same time acknowledging varietal differences. This chapter first shows that this situation emerged because, after the foundation of the Academy in 1713, the Spanish overseas colonies started to claim their independence, which made it difficult for the Peninsular Academy to impose the norm. The following sections describe how these norms interact, i.e. that certain varieties, particularly Peninsular Spanish, are of higher social prestige than most other varieties. At the same time, a so-called “neutral” (i.e. levelled Latin American) form of Spanish has emerged in international media. The persistence of considerable national differences with no efforts for codification except Mexico and Argentina, however, challenges the establishment of national norms and a supra-national one. The conclusion proposes a three-level model of international Spanish including Peninsular (standard) Spanish, national standards of Spanish, and “español neutro”.

This chapter examines the relationship between English as a pluricentric language with multiple varieties and the instruments of codification that stabilize the variation within their individual lexica. It compares the different types of dictionaries published for settler Englishes (Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, US) with those published for indigenized Englishes (South Africa, India, Singapore, the Philippines), finding that the former have several types of dictionaries (historical and contemporary, with partial or comprehensive coverage of the lexicon), whereas the indigenized varieties have few with limited coverage of the varietal lexicon. Other codificatory instruments, e.g. style manuals, are found with settler varieties but not indigenized ones. The range of such instruments for settler varieties thus correlates with their advanced stage of evolution (beyond endonormativity). The research shows that only those dictionaries which are produced by regionally based lexicographers are indicators of endonormativity. Dictionaries compiled by foreign/international publishers are associated with varieties that have yet to attain their endonormativity.