He co-directed, with Jordi Mir, the creation of the Obres completes de Pompeu Fabra, as well as directing the project for the Gramàtica del català contemporani, and at the time of his death was contributing to the new normative grammar for the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, where he had been a member since 1999.

Among the awards which he was given were the Premi a la Investigació Lingüística (Award for Linguistic Investigation) from the Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalan (1991), and the Premi de Recerca Crítica Serra d’Or (the Serra d’Or Award for Critical Research for his work Història de la lingüística catalana, 1775-1900: repertori crític (“History of Catalan Linguistics, 1775-1900: A Critical Repertory”, 1999, written together with Pere Marcet), the Sanchis Guarner Award from the Fundació Jaume I for the Gramàtica del català contemporani (“Grammar of Contemporary Catalan”, 2002, a project he led along with Maria-Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró, and Manuel Pérez-Saldanya), or the Narcís Monturiol Medal for scientific and technological merit for his research into the Catalan language, both synchronic and diachronic, as well as for his work in the dissemination of that knowledge for the general public.

In 2009 he was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Lleida, and received the Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, an award conferred by the association Òmnium Cultural in recognition of civic trajectory and prestige of published works.

In 2010 he was honored for his lifelong dedication to the defense of the Catalan language and culture at the Premis Joan Coromines, given by the Coordinadora d’Associacions per la Llengua catalana.

10 textos d’homenatge (“Joan Solà: 10 Texts in Homage”) was published, edited by of the department of Catalan Philology at the Universitat de Barcelona, in which many of his collaborators contributed pieces on his life and works.