Seminar given by Alberto Rodríguez Lifante, graduate in Hispanic Philology and International Doctor in Applied Linguistics (Extraordinary Doctorate Award) from the University of Alicante.
Thursday, 18 December at 4:30 p.m.
Format: Zoom Access code: 219267
Biography:
Graduate in Hispanic Philology and International Doctorate in Applied Linguistics (Extraordinary Doctorate Award) from the University of Alicante. He has participated in numerous international conferences and has taught and co-directed training seminars for ELA teachers. He has also carried out research stays at foreign centres in Europe. He currently belongs to various teaching networks, has coordinated the Xarxa PATES on the tutorial action programme for the Degree in Spanish (2017-2019) and belongs to the Editorial Board of ELUA. He has been Coordinator of the General Linguistics Area (2017-2019) and a member of the Spanish Degree Committee.
Abstract:
In this presentation, we will reflect on the development of an academic work in the field of the history of science and its transformation into a research article through the analysis of chemical terminology in the last quarter of the 18th century and early 19th century in Spain. During this period, chemistry in different parts of Europe underwent a theoretical and terminological transformation stimulated by the publication of the ‘Méthode de nomenclature chimique’ by a group of French chemists. In the process of disseminating this work, the adaptation of French terms into Spanish turned Spanish chemistry into a field rife with controversy and linguistic debate about the lexicon of this science, its translation into Spanish, and the negotiation of alternatives to the new and traditional nomenclatures.
We examine the debates and controversies surrounding the circulation of the term archîcayo, an alternative term proposed by surgeon Manuel de Aréjula for oxygen, and analyse from a linguistic perspective the reasons that contributed to the success of the latter term over the former through its circulation in lexicographical works. We attest to the reception and brief use of this term by Andrés Manuel del Río (1764-1849), as well as its unusual inclusion in an 1817 Spanish-English dictionary and in another lexicographical work on the Castilian language from 1866. The results highlight the complexity of the processes involved in the acceptance and accommodation of terminological innovations and the multiplicity of social, historical, ideological and linguistic factors that interact in the assimilation of technical terminology in a key period for chemical science.
