«LANGUAGE IS A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY»

Dolores Corbella (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1959) occupies chair «d» in the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) and is the first woman from the Canary Islands to be admitted to the institution. She is a professor of romance philology at La Laguna University and her main research field is what is known as differential lexicography. Author of more than 130 academic papers, Corbella is primarily an archaeologist of words who investigates what these were like in early times.

How did your interest in Hispanic philology begin?

I had a Latin teacher at high school who allowed me to use her library. I learned lots of Latin with her and also read up extensively on the period. That led me to decide to study Arts, particularly classical philology. Contact with other teachers I met when I went to university led me to study Hispanic philology, in particular Romance philology.

How does it feel to be appointed to the RAE?

To quote the most recent winner of the Cervantes Prize, Rafael Cadenas, «it is an honour that is far above me». My appointment is not the Cervantes Prize, of course, but I am deeply honoured that they thought of me and that as a lexicographer I can contribute something to the Academy and help improve dictionaries. I am thrilled by the recognition of work that I have been engaged in for over thirty years.

One of your main research topics is the study of dialectical lexicon. What is this and why did you decide to study it?

I have specialised mainly in compiling dictionaries of the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands because that is what was closest to me. We have wonderful libraries here, including at La Laguna University, the city library in Santa Cruz and the Canarian Museum, not to mention great archives. All this helps us look into the history of the words we use. My work has involved discovering that history through written texts, given that the only access we have to very old words is through the study of documents. Here we have documentation dating back to the late 15th century, although earlier references exist in other archives. In short, we have studied the history of our vocabulary back though around six centuries.

-

Are there any curious words from those six centuries of history?

There are many. For example, the first word documented in a text in Spanish is guanil, an old term meaning wild herds. Today the term is used only for livestock. However, documentary evidence of its use can be traced back to the first half of the 15th century. Another curious word, one that is well known to us here, is malpaís, which is documented as far back as the late 15th century although its French form was used by the first conquistadors of the Canaries, Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. It appeared for the first time in the text Le Canarien (1402-1404), where they speak of mauvais pays and fort pays, in the sense of rough and barren volcanic landscapes (‘badlands’) or areas where walking is difficult.

What is your view on the evolution of language? The use of anglicisms is growing by the day...

I don’t think we run the risk of losing our identity. It’s just that the world and technology are changing all the time and IT has become part and parcel of our lives: there is much talk today of Artificial Intelligence and many of the associated terms come from English. These terms need to be adapted, just as we too need to adapt to ongoing change. Language is a reflection of society. Some words have fallen from usage. At home, we always used the old word fonil (funnel) but not any more. Few homes have a funnel nowadays. If anything, our children probably use the word e mbudo for funnel, assuming they know what it is. Computers are ever-present today and we have to adapt to the new technologies and anything required by our evolving society. From what I have seen and believe, in the RAE it is our job to observe how language evolves also. These observations lead, where possible, to descriptions of the new terms and how they come to be accepted by society. If most people accept them, we must be descriptive rather than prescriptive. You cannot impose a particular way of speaking. Language belongs to everyone and I always say it is the most democratic thing we have. We all move forward and we gradually change language to adapt it to our needs.

Read full interview at revistabinter.com.

By Francisco Javier Torres del Castillo* Illustrated by Ilustre Mario