Language as a Tool for Self-Expression
Introduction
This is a humanistic text that speculates, with an abundance of abstract nouns, on a matter related to the human spirit: language and communication (the need to speak well). Given the features mentioned below, we can classify this as an essay. The text concludes with an expository-argumentative structure. The author provides a personal and original view (subjectivity) on the importance of language, using not only a formal register (in the service of clarity and precision) but also a meticulously prepared Spanish aesthetic discourse that enriches the text and makes it more suggestive.
Logical Structure of the Discourse
The discourse is orderly and rigorous, serving clarity through deductive reasoning, aiming to persuade the receiver of the truth of an argument.
Breakdown
- 1. Thesis (“essential idea”) (lines 1-6): Language, in addition to expressing things, serves to express oneself.
- 2. Body of Argumentation (lines 6-33)
- 2.1. Argument from authority (Germanic philosophers) (lines 6-10): Through language, the spirit of man and his ideas are manifested.
- 2.2. Personal Argument (lines 10-29): If language is the main instrument for forming the mind, society has a responsibility to educate for good communication.
- 2.2.1. (Details of experience): Individuals unable to express their inner selves lose human dignity (e.g., cultivating the young body while neglecting the spirit).
- 2.3. Possible Rebuttal (lines 29-33): The existence of the ineffable.
- 2.3.1. However, inexpressible experiences are only fully human if they are shared and understood.
The thesis relates to the importance of mastering language to achieve a high degree of expression and human knowledge. The text, perfectly coherent and cohesive, is divided into two paragraphs.
In the first, Salinas explains the gist, which is derived from the thesis, related to the importance of language as an instrument of knowledge and expression of the most intimately human.
After this brief exposition, in the second paragraph, the ideas supporting the thesis are presented in an orderly manner, following a typical argumentative structure. Thus, to rationally convince, he first appeals to a personal argument, which he then reinforces with an argument from authority to establish the responsibility of every human society in language education. Two negative examples, taken from experience and observation, demonstrate the consequences for human dignity of shortcomings in language handling. He ends the argument with a possible rebuttal to his thesis (the existence of the ineffable), dismantling it because even the ineffable needs to be shared to be fully human.
We observe, therefore, that the ideas are framed in an analyzing argumentative structure (deduction). The absence of a conclusion suggests that this is a fragment belonging to a larger textual unit.
Functions of Language
Linguistic Procedures
Although some linguistic procedures have already been highlighted, we will focus more closely on one of the most significant. The language is common, but certain peculiarities of essayistic speech stand out: on the one hand, the use of an elaborate code, a formal Spanish dominated by propriety, in the service of clarity and precision; on the other hand, a greater use of expressive resources, cultism, technical terms, and rhetorical devices at the phonetic and morphosyntactic levels.