Eng. discussion ~ Sp. discusión
Spanish and English have several words that are
closely related to the cognate verbs Eng. discuss ~ Sp. discutir,
namely the ones below. As you can see, some are very common words, but others
are less common or even rare.
|
Spanish |
English |
|
discutir |
discuss |
|
discusión |
discussion |
|
discutible |
discussable/discussible |
|
discutidor |
discussant |
|
|
discusser |
In this section we will discuss the cognate nouns Eng.
discussion ~ Sp. discusión in some detail and in the next one we
will briefly look at the rest of these words.
The cognate nouns Sp. discusión ~ Eng. discussion,
which were already mentioned in the preceding section, both descended from the
Latin noun discŭssĭo (regular stem: discŭssĭōn‑), formed from the
stem discŭss‑ of
the passive participle discŭss‑us of the verb dĭscŭtĕre and
the suffix ‑ĭōn‑
used to derive action nouns from verbs in Latin. Because the cognate nouns Sp. discusión
~ Eng. discussion descend from the exact same Latin word-form, they look
very similar, unlike the verbs we saw in the preceding section. As with all
other Latin action nouns formed with the suffix ‑ĭōn‑, the Spanish
descendant or reflex ends in stressed ‑ión, pronounced [ˈi̯on] and the English one ends in an unstressed ‑ion,
pronounced [ən].
Actually, all such words in English, regardless of whether the preceding
consonant is ‑t‑ or ‑ss‑ (‑tion or ‑ssion), the
ending is pronounced [ʃən]
(but [ʒən] if only a
single single ‑s‑ precedes the ‑ion ending (‑sion) , e.g. donation
[dəneɪ̯ʃən], pension [pʰɛnʃən], mission [ˈmɪʃən],
derision [dɪˈɹɪʒən].
The only other difference in the spelling is the double ‑ss‑ in the
English word, inherited from Latin spelling (though ‑ss‑ was pronounced very
differently in Latin). As we have seen elsewhere, when Spanish borrowed a word with
a double (geminate) consonant, in most cases it reduced it to a single one.
Sp. discusión, pronounced [dis.ku.ˈsi̯on], is first attested in the late 16th century (DCEH) and
it is obviously a loanword, not a patrimonial word. Eng. discussion,
pronounced [dɪ.ˈskʌʃ.ən], was borrowed in the early
15th century and, as the OED tells us, it was borrowed from Latin but also French,
for this language had borrowed this Latin word first, in the early 12th century.
At the time writers introduced the word into English, most all educated people
were familiar with Latin as well as French. There is little doubt that Spanish discusión
was introduced into the language the same way that Eng. discussion was
introduced into English, namely through a mixture of the influence of French
and Latin. In both languages, this noun is a loanword, ultimately from Latin.
Let us look now at the meaning of these two words and
whether they are equivalent (‘good friends’) or not (‘false friends’). English
dictionaries give us two closely related senses for the noun discussion,
such as the following two from the American Heritage Dictionary: (1)
‘consideration of a subject by a group; an earnest conversation’, and (2) ‘a
formal discourse on a topic; an exposition’ (AHD). The former meaning involves
an exchange between two or more people whereas the second one involves a
speaker or writer addressing their audience in a monologue. These two senses parallel
the two senses for the verb discuss that we saw in the previous section.
In neither of these senses is there a requirement or a connotation that the parties
involved in the conversation be arguing or otherwise presenting contrasting and
contraposed ideas the way the Spanish cognate discusión does, though in
some contexts such a confrontation is conceivable in situations described by
the noun discussion, but that part of the meaning must be gleaned from
the context, because it is not an integral part of the meaning of the noun discussion
itself.
Most Spanish dictionaries define the noun discusión
in terms of the verb discutir. Thus, for example, the DLE gives the
following as the definition of discusión: ‘acción y efecto de discutir’
(DLE). Clave is an exeption to this. In this dictionary, the first sense
of the word discusión is given as ‘conversation in which conflicting/opposite
ideas are defended’.[1]
This dictionary gives two other senses for the noun discusión, one that does
not necessarily reflect an antagonic situation, and another one that clearly does:
(2) ‘Conversation in which an issue is analized from different viewpoints in
order to explain it or solve it’; (3) ‘An objection to an order given or to
something someone says: Sus órdenes no admiten discusión ‘His orders
cannot be challenged’.[2]
Clearly, this definition of sense (2) for discusión is quite compatible
with the meaning of the English noun discussion in theory. In practice,
however, it is also undeniable that the ‘confrontational’ connotation of the
other two senses lurks in the background of even this sense of the noun discusión
and it is very hard to disassociate it from it. It is quite clear that a discusión
can never be a friendly discussion.
English-Spanish dictionaries invariably give Sp. discusión
as the main translation for the English noun discussion, something that
is highly questionable, given the evidence shown so far. Collins gives discusión
as the only possible translation, for instance. Many other dictionaries give
discusión as the main ‘general’ translation for discussion, but
mention a second option, namely debate ‘debate’, which is used to
describe more formal situations, such as academic conferences or political
forums in which arranged discussions take place. It is our contention that in
many—perhaps most—contexts, less ‘charged’
alternatives should be chosen as the translation of Eng. discussion instead
of discusión, such as conversación, charla, plática,
coloquio, diálogo, entrevista, tertulia, conferencia,
discurso, intercambio (de ideas), deliberación, etc.
Note that in translations of English collocations that
contain the noun discussion, words other than discusión are often
used, such as Eng. discussion article = Sp. artículo de opinión; Eng.
discussion forum = Sp. foro de debate; Eng. discussion paper
= Sp. artículo de opinión, documento de debate; Eng. book
discussion = Sp. tertulia literaria; Eng. panel discussion = Sp.
grupo de debate, mesa de debate, mesa redonda (GU). It
should be clear that we are not saying that discussion should never be
translated as discusión, but this should only happen when the context
makes it clear that the conversation is confrontational and oppositional in
nature, as in the collocation Eng. heated discussion = Sp. discusión
acalorada (GU), but that is not what is meant by perhaps most uses of the
noun discussion in real life, including those that take place in most classrooms.
Spanish-English dictionaries give two translations (and
thus, two senses) for the noun discusión: discussion and argument.
But from the examples given in those dictionaries for those senses, it is clear
that when they say that discusión means ‘discussion’, they do not mean a
friendly discussion in which the participants in a conversation engage in a
mere friendly chat about a topic, but rather one in which ideas are contrasted
and put against each other, something that is not a necessary or even common component
of the meaning of the English noun discussion, merely an optional one, one
that is not part of perhaps the majority of situations described by the noun discussion.
Thus, for instance, the first translation/sense for discusión in the
Oxford Spanish-English dictionary is discussion, but the example given
is Eso no admite discusión ‘That leaves no room for discussion’, which
is a very antagonistic form of discussion. The sentence is equivalent to That
cannot be contested or That cannot be questioned, sentences in which
the idea of contrast of opposing ideas is quite obvious (OSD). All of this
makes perfect sense, of course, for the difference between the nouns Eng. discussion
~ Sp. discusión is totally analogous to the one found in the verbs Eng. discuss
~ Sp. discutir that we discussed in the previous section.
Go to Part 4: Other words related to Eng. discuss ~ Sp. discutir
[1] The original says: ‘1 Conversación en la que se defienden opiniones
contrarias: No merece la pena tener una discusión por esa tontería’
(Clave).
[2] The original says: ‘2 Conversación
en la que se analiza un asunto desde distintos puntos de vista para explicarlo
o solucionarlo. 3 Objeción que se pone a una orden o a lo que alguien dice: Sus
órdenes no admiten discusión (Clave).
No comments:
Post a Comment