El Cid, Alfonso X, and Early Spanish Language Insights
The Song of El Cid: Summary
First Song
- The Exile of the Cid: Unfairly destined for exile. Imagine a war-torn, sad hero going into exile.
- Pain in Burgos: The pain comes to Burgos; his men and the people he appreciates watch from the balconies with heavy hearts.
- The Cid’s Farewell to His Family: He goes to San Pedro de Cardeña to say goodbye to his wife and daughters.
- The Fame of the Cid: He gains reputation as he travels.
Second Song
- Proposal of the Heirs of Carrión: The noble families (Infantes de Carrión) want to marry his daughters. They dare not approach El Cid directly and go through the king.
- El Cid Accepts the Marriage: Not very happy with the marriage, but accepts as requested by the king.
Third Song
- Cowardice of the Heirs of Carrión: A lion escapes while the Cid sleeps; everyone defends him while the heirs hide.
- The Affront of Corpes: The humiliation of the Cid’s daughters in the oak wood of Corpes.
- The King Restores the Cid’s Honor: The Cid and his family seek justice from the king. The Cid’s knights duel the heirs of Carrión.
- The Greatness of the Cid: His daughters eventually marry heirs to the Crowns of Navarra and Aragón.
Language and Resources in the Poem
The language accommodates the minstrel’s need to maintain public attention. Resources include:
- Appositions: Epithets like “el que en buen hora nació” (he who was born in a good hour).
- Invocations: Addressing the listener, e.g., “Oíd…” (Hear…).
- Direct Style: Using phrases like “en buen hora cinxó espada” (in a good hour girded his sword).
- Pleonasms.
- Lack of introductory verbs for dialogue.
- Verbal tense variety.
Communication Elements
- Sender: Transmits the message.
- Receiver: Receives the message and decodes it.
- Message: The encrypted information sent from the sender to the receiver.
- Code: The set of signs and rules used to create the message.
- Channel: The physical medium through which the message is transmitted (e.g., air, paper).
- Context: The circumstances (space, time, situation) surrounding the communication.
- Linguistic Sign: Used to form messages; consists of a signifier (form) and a signified (meaning).
Functions of Language
- Referential: Reports objective facts, states, processes (common in expository texts, descriptions, narratives).
- Emotive: Expresses feelings of the sender.
- Phatic: Initiates, maintains, or breaks contact between sender and receiver.
- Conative: Aims to influence the receiver.
- Metalinguistic: Used to talk about language itself.
- Poetic: Attracts attention to the form of the message itself.
Adjective Types
- Specificative (Restrictive): Limits the meaning of the noun, distinguishing it from others in its class. Example: “Los alumnos estudiosos aprobaron” (The studious students passed – implies only the studious ones).
- Explicative (Non-restrictive): Does not limit the noun’s meaning; highlights a quality, often set off by pauses (commas in writing). Example: “Los alumnos, estudiosos, aprobaron” (The students, who are studious, passed – implies all students are studious).
The Work of Alfonso X
His vast literary and scientific output was not solely his own; he directed teams of collaborators, including Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars who translated texts. Alfonso reviewed the correctness of the texts in Castilian. He proposed orthographic norms to stabilize Castilian and achieve a more fluent expression.
Origins of Castilian Prose
The rise of Castilian prose was significantly promoted by Castilian kings who favored its use over Latin. Fernando III adopted Castilian as the language of the chancellery (instead of Latin) for notarial documents and declared Castilian the official administrative language. His son, Alfonso X the Wise, continued this effort, particularly through extensive translation projects. Early prose stories and fables also began to appear during this period.
Key Medieval Spanish Authors and Works
- Alfonso X el Sabio (13th century): Crónica General, Cantigas de Santa María.
- Gonzalo de Berceo (13th century): Milagros de Nuestra Señora.
- Arcipreste de Hita (Juan Ruiz) (14th century): Libro de Buen Amor.
- Don Juan Manuel (14th century): El Conde Lucanor.
Linguistic Gender Concepts in Spanish
- Ambiguous Gender: Inanimate nouns that can be used with both masculine and feminine articles/adjectives, often with a slight change in meaning or stylistic preference (e.g., el mar / la mar – the sea).
- Epicene Gender: Nouns referring to beings with sex, but having only one grammatical gender for both males and females (e.g., la jirafa – the giraffe [male or female], el gusano – the worm [male or female]).
- Common Gender: Nouns referring to people that have the same form for masculine and feminine, distinguished only by the article or accompanying adjectives (e.g., el pianista / la pianista – the pianist [male/female]).