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Dolores Corbella: "I am an archaeologist of words"

2022-03-03T03:50:54.358Z


The professor of Romance Philology at the University of La Laguna is the first person born on the islands to enter the Academy in 85 years


Dolores Corbella (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 62 years old) was elected academic of the language on February 17 in the third attempt, after two previous unsuccessful candidacies.

Professor of Romance Philology in La Laguna since she was 37 years old, she has dedicated a large part of her work to the Spanish of the Canary Islands.

For 88 years, no one born on the islands entered the Academy.

The last one had been the physicist Blas Cabrera, in 1936, who read her speech and left for exile.

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The philologist Dolores Corbella, first Canarian elected academic of the RAE

Ask.

You're already expecting it, right? What do you think of the so-called “inclusive language”?

Answer.

The problem is not in the language itself but in the attitude behind some messages.

The macho record is unacceptable.

We must continue educating in equality.

P.

Among the 10 current academics of the most recent admission there are 5 women.

We are making progress?

R.

We are on the right track.

Those who enter the Academy must be the best, the representatives of society, of literature, of philology, of science.

The incorporation of women has to be considered as something normal in all areas.

And that also has to be reflected in the Academy, not because they are women but because they are role models.

Emilia Pardo Bazán or María Moliner should have entered… The work of María Moliner led to the addition of the feminine “lexicographer” in 1984.

Q.

What does the saying “third time lucky” suggest to you?

R.

That all is well that ends well.

P.

It was endorsed by the philosopher Emilio Lledó, the lexicographer José Antonio Pascual and the writer Carme Riera.

That is transversality.

R.

And before Margarita Salas, Gregorio Salvador, José Manuel Blecua and Pedro Álvarez de Miranda… People I admire.

And yes, a lexicographer has no choice but to be transversal.

P.

What will you talk about in your entrance speech?

R.

I can only talk about what I know… I will talk about the history of the differential lexicon.

I am an archaeologist of words.

Q.

When did you decide to be a philologist?

R.

I decided because I had a magnificent Latin teacher at the institute: Adelaida Alemán.

She made me read, she made me discover.

And at university, I also had another female role model: Inmaculada Corrales.

P.

You have analyzed the influence of Portuguese in the Canary Islands.

Damn, someone who looks at Portugal…

A.

The Canary Islands do look at Portugal.

When I tell my friends from Galicia “he did this with jeito” [maña], they tell me that this is the influence of my father, who was Galician;

but in the Archipelago it comes from Portuguese.

The ocean has brought us together.

The trees of the Canarian laurel forest have Portuguese names: barbusano, viñátigo, acebiño, palo blanco… Some Portuguese terms are now found in America because they passed through the Canary Islands.

For example, the cachaça or cachaça caipirinha is documented in the Canary Islands in 1527. In Brazil there are no sugar mills [trapiches where the cane is ground] until 1535. Then the word is not Brazilian.

Q.

Will you add canarismos to the

Dictionary?

R.

We will have to maintain a balance.

That yes, as a Canarian I have the task done (he laughs).

I will propose clarifying some definitions, etymologies, spellings… For example, it contains “milara”, but it should be written “milana” [a kind of tray].

P.

Does the saying "there were more people than in Los Sabandeños" not strain as Canarianism?

R.

It does not strain, but how they fill the stage!

(laughs).

Thanks to them there is also talk of “sabandeño mass” and “sandeño song”.

Its name comes from the Canarian toponym La Sabanda, the place where they began to meet.

Now they usually rehearse here in La Laguna, sometimes I take the opportunity to listen to them.

And they are going to perform at the XXX Congress of Romance Philology [in July, in La Laguna].

A luxury!

I asked Elfidio Alonso, his director, and he told me: "Whatever you want, my girl."

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Source: elparis

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