Language Varieties and Verbal Periphrasis

Posted on Sep 27, 2024 in French

1. Language Varieties

The spoken language comes from a standard or regulation, whose existence is purely mental as there are no ground rules. In reality, if languages exist and are spoken, they are different varieties that are geographically or diatopically determined.

Variety Types

  • Geographical or Diatopic Variety: These are the various forms that a language takes in each of the territories in which it is used, leading to differences in pronunciation, morphology, and lexicon. Examples include Castilian, Murciano, Extremadura, Andalusian, Canary Islands, and Spanish American varieties.
  • Social or Diastratic Variety: These are the uses of language determined by the social characteristics of speakers, such as age, sex, education, social class, and profession. They give rise to professional jargon, youth slang, or marginal slang.
  • Diaphasic or Situational Variety: These are the different forms that language takes depending on the characteristics of the communication situation. These features include the subject being discussed, the relationship between sender and receiver, the channel through which information is conveyed, and the communicative intention. Within situational varieties are different registers:
    • Colloquial Register: This is the most used register in daily communication with people with whom we have an equal relationship.
    • Specialized Register (Scientific-Technical Language): This register is used in situations where knowledge related to specific disciplines is transmitted.
    • Specialized Register (Humanities Language): This register is used when dealing with issues related to human beings and their cultural productions.

2. Diaphasic Situational Variety Example

This text is an example of diaphasic situational variety, specifically a specialized register. The elements of this register are:

  • Theme: The theme of the text reflects and determines the appearance of more or less specialized registers. This text presents a general topic: the debate on what constitutes the good life for humans.
  • Type of Relationship: This element considers the relationship between the sender and receiver. This text presents a formal relationship, as it is between a parent (sender) and child (receiver). It is a personal text, although many verbs are written in the third person singular, as it is addressed to his son, Amador.
  • Communicative Intention: The purpose is informative. The sender explains to his son what the good life is (having everything) and what is basic to human life (not living isolated from others).

Language Features

  • Morphosyntactic Level: Nominal style with a majority use of nouns (life, cauliflower, beetle, respect, species), dominance of complex sentences (If you could… human beings), and specific use of adjectives (good life is the most striking).
  • Semantic Lexicon: Incorporation of common lexicon and jargon (of humanism: man, human beings), use of synonyms (be, man, human), abstract nouns (life, time), and use of connotative values of words (good life, cauliflower, palace).
  • Pragmatic-Textual Level: Clearly structured text using connectors (but), predominance of expository-argumentative sequences (states the problem of the good life and argues that it’s about being human, not a cauliflower or a beetle).
  • Use of Subjunctive Mood: (if you could have… would you go crazy?).
  • Use of Adjectives in Comparative and Superlative Degree.

3. Textual Analysis Example

This section provides a detailed morphosyntactic analysis of a specific sentence from the text. It breaks down the sentence into its constituent parts and identifies the grammatical function of each word.

4. Verbal Periphrasis

Verbal periphrases are syntactic constructions consisting of two or more verbs that work together as the core of the verb phrase predicate. They express aspectual or modal content. They consist of an auxiliary verb and a main verb, sometimes linked by a preposition.

Types of Verbal Periphrasis

  • Aspectual:
    • Perfect: Present the action of the verb as completed (stop + infinitive, end of + infinitive, take + participle).
    • Inchoative: Present the action of the verb in its beginning (go to + infinitive, start + infinitive).
    • Iterative: Present actions that are repeated (usually + infinitive, re- + infinitive).
    • Durative: Show the action in its development (be + gerund, bring + gerund).
  • Modals:
    • Obligation: (have to + infinitive, duty + infinitive).
    • Possibility: (duty + infinitive, power + infinitive).
    • Proximity: (to come to + infinitive, come + gerund).
    • Training: (to + infinitive).