Literary Texts and Language Concepts
Narrative Texts
Narrative texts have literary intention, telling a story with characters, setting, and plot.
Narrative: A tale told by a narrator about events happening to characters in different places and times.
Structure: Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution.
Dialogued Texts
Dialogue: An exchange of information between a sender and a receiver who alternate roles.
Descriptive Texts
Descriptive texts represent the image of an object, place, person, etc., in words.
Portrait: Describing a person.
Prosopography: Description of a person’s physical appearance, focusing on visible features.
Etopeya: Description of a person’s character through their actions and words.
Words and Phrases
Word: A unit of language with meaning.
Phrase: A word or set of words that form part of a sentence, have meaning, and fulfill a syntactic function.
Sentence: A complete message with proper intonation and communicative intent.
Word Formation
Lexeme/Root: The core of a word containing its meaning, as found in dictionaries.
Nouns and Adjectives: Have inflectional morphemes for gender and number.
Verbs: Have inflectional morphemes for number, person, tense, and mood.
Primitive Words: Words not formed from other words, but which give rise to other words.
Derivational Morphemes/Affixes: Added to lexemes to form new words.
Derived Words: Lexeme + derivational morphemes.
Compound Words: Two lexemes combined.
Parasynthetic Words: Lexeme + lexeme + derivational suffix.
Parasynthesis: A process forming new words by combining composition and derivation.
Prefixes: Modify the meaning of the primitive word.
Suffixes: Modify the meaning and can change the grammatical category.
Acronym: A word formed from the initials of different words.
Initialism: Formed from the initial letters or syllables of different words.
19th-Century Historical Context
First Half (Romanticism)
- French invasion
- Carlist Wars
- Reign of Elizabeth II
- Political instability
Second Half (Realism)
- Bourgeoisie and big business dominance
- Proletariat struggles and strikes
- Economic backwardness and political instability
- Early democratic attempts
19th-Century Literary Movements
Romanticism
- Subjectivism
- Idealism
- Passion over reason
- Themes: Sadness, melancholy, love
- Settings: Exotic and remote locations
Realism
- Objectivism
- Empiricism
- Reason over passion
- Themes: Social criticism, human behavior, work
- Settings: City, country
Extremadura Authors
José María Gabriel y Galán (adopted Extremaduran poet): “El Embargo”, “Mi Vaquerillo”
Text Types
Expository Texts: Convey information clearly and accurately.
Argumentative Texts: Defend a thesis with arguments and reach a conclusion.
Modern Communication
SMS (Short Message Service): Text messages used on mobile phones.
Grammar
Determiners (Cardinal): Indicate the number of items in a set.
Determiners (Ordinal): Express order.
Adverb: Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Adverb Functions: Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs; express place, time, manner, quantity, affirmation, negation, and doubt.
Sentence Structure
Sentences: Can be joined by conjunctions, forming independent clauses.
Complex Sentences: Clauses joined by relative pronouns, creating dependent clauses.
Simple Sentence: Contains a single verb.
Complex/Compound Sentence: Contains two or more verbs.
Other Concepts
Technicalities/Jargon: Specialized terms used in specific professions.
Interview: A dialogue with questions and answers, including an introduction and a body.
Traditional vs. Digital Texts
Traditional Texts
- Handwritten or typed
- Printed on paper
- Expensive and environmentally impactful
Digital Texts
- Written on a computer
- Virtual
- Cost-effective
- Modern editing techniques
Job Application Documents
Curriculum Vitae (CV): Contains biographical data, academic and professional experience.
Cover Letter: Expresses interest in a job.
Formal Request/Application: Used to request, claim, or report something to a public body.