Evolution of Castilian Prose: From Alfonso X to Don Juan Manuel
Evolution of Castilian Prose
Alfonso X el Sabio (1221-1284)
King Alfonso X’s supervision of literary works placed a special emphasis on language. His efforts to standardize spelling, enrich sentence syntax, and expand vocabulary paved the way for a more complex, precise, and sophisticated prose. As a creator, his Galician compositions are evident in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of poems and songs praising the Virgin Mary and recounting miracles.
14th-Century Prose Fiction: Don Juan Manuel
Castilian prose normalized in the 14th century with the emergence of fictional narratives. Don Juan Manuel, The Count, is considered the inaugurator of Castilian prose fiction. He created a vast body of work dedicated to educating nobles, with his most famous being El Conde Lucanor (c. 1335). The book’s structure involves The Count presenting a problem to his advisor, Patronio. Instead of offering direct advice, Patronio narrates a story. He then explains the story’s application to the problem, clarifying his counsel. Each story concludes with a reference to Don Juan Manuel himself, who includes it in the book and summarizes its moral.
Cantar de Mio Cid
The Poema de Mio Cid, or Cantar de Mio Cid, is the only surviving epic poem of its kind. The 3,730-line manuscript is preserved in the National Library of Madrid. Opinions diverge regarding its composition date and authorship. The manuscript is dated 1207 and signed by Per Abbat, presumed to be a copyist. Recent studies suggest a composition date in the late 12th or early 13th century. The authorship remains uncertain, but it’s believed a learned poet, familiar with oral epic traditions, may be the author.
Vocabulary: Heritage, Cultisms, and Doublets
Heritage words are of Latin origin and have undergone all the sound changes characteristic of language evolution. Cultisms are later additions of Latin words that have retained their original form, such as “unarmed.” Sometimes, a cultism is introduced alongside an existing heritage word from the same Latin root, creating a doublet. For example, “heart” and “soul” share a Latin etymon but have distinct meanings.
Main Semantic Phenomena
relations between signifier and meaning are often complex. A significant meanings you can be relevant or significant meaning several or many different words can match the shape of the signifier. They are calledsemantic phenomena (monosemy, polysemy, homonyms, synonyms, antonyms and hyperonymy) and they can classify words: Words monosemic. Are the words in which a significant significado.Por has a single example, the word altar boy only has meaning “that helps children to Mass and other services does the church.” polysemic words. Are the words in which a signifier can be attributed to several significados.Por example, the word table, some of whose meanings are: “flat piece of wood ‘,’ double fold of a fabric ornament”, “index of a book ‘or’ painting done on wood.” homonyms. They are two or more different words that match and “pronunciation, even in his writing, but their origins and their meanings are distintos.Por example (from the Latin papos): “Roman Pontiff, the visible head of the church ‘(Quechua papa):” potato, potato’ (from Latin pappa ): “nonsense, Paparruchas. If they match only in pronunciation, the phenomenon is called h oniofonÃa_ (male / Baron), if they coincide in their pronunciation and in their writing, is called homography: to mean” little spot on the face or other body part “and to mean” belonging or relating to the moon. “synonymous words. These words are different in form, but with the same or similar meaning. For example, dentist.
In the former case, the equivalence results in a total synonymy. But in general, synonymous words have different nuances that do not allow the exchange in all contexts: the partial synonymy. For example, antonyms. These are the words whose meaning is opposite .. grammatical antonymy occurs when its opposite is created by adding a prefix (in-, i-, anti-, dis-), as in the case. antonymy lexical occurs when antonyms are words with totally different signifiers as in words and hyponym hyperonymic. Where the meaning of a word is implicit in the other, “that word is called hyperonymic. Thus, _the meaning of the word is general and common word to turn all of them are words hyponym regarding the term furniture