Literary Topics, Language Functions, and Speech Acts
Key Literary Topics
These are some common themes found in literature:
- Carpe Diem: Seize the day to the maximum.
- Tempus Fugit: Time flies without stopping.
- Ubi Sunt: Where are the people who have been forgotten by time?
- Beatus Ille: Finding oneself, detached from the material.
- Locus Amoenus: The search for an ideal place.
- Memento Mori: We all face death one day.
- Dedication: Written in honor of someone.
- False Modesty: Seeking sympathy from the listener.
- Invocation of Divinity: Asking God for inspiration and clarity.
- Nature Confession: Nature as a friend of man.
- Wealth: Praise to the earth and its landscapes.
- Golden Age: Memories of a previous, better world.
- Never Before Said: Developing originality, causing suspense.
- Mundo al Revés: Enumeration of impossibilities to change the world.
Functions of Language
Language serves several key functions:
- Emotive: Expressing feelings (transmitter).
- Appeals or Conative: Influencing the receiver (e.g., dramatic).
- Poetic: Focusing on the message itself (e.g., lyrical).
- Metalinguistic: Defining the meaning of something (code).
- Phatic: Starting, stopping, or ending dialogue (channel).
- Referential: Providing information about the thematic context (e.g., narrative).
Speech Acts
Speech acts can be categorized as follows:
- Locutionary: What is said; the literal words spoken.
- Illocutionary: Intention; the act performed by saying something.
- Perlocutionary: The effect; the result of what is said and done.
They can also be:
- Direct: The receiver is identified.
- Indirect: Something is conveyed through suggestion.
Types of Speech Acts:
- Assertive: Affirms or denies something with certainty. (Verbs: describe, inform, define, believe)
- Directive: Attempts to get the listener to do something. (Verbs: invite, order, ask)
- Commissive: Commits the speaker to an action. (Verbs: promise, swear, gamble)
- Expressive: Expresses an emotional or physical state. (Verbs: greet, thank, give condolences, congratulate)
- Declarative: Modifies some aspect of reality. (Verbs: baptize, rule, marry)
Textual Argumentation
- Thesis: The point of view; the central idea.
- Argument: Reasons based on facts and data.
- Bases: Support for the argument or thesis.
- Warrant: The link between the bases/arguments and the thesis.
Modes of Reasoning
- Symptomatic or Signs: Reasons presented as signs leading to a conclusion.
- Instrumental or Causation: Reasons presented as the cause leading to a conclusion.
- Analogical Reasoning: Reasoning based on similar attributes between situations.
- Generalization: Drawing a conclusion from several similar instances.
- Reasoning by Authority: Using quotations from authorities or experts.
Types of Love
- Ideal Love: Love without physical contact.
- Idealized Love: Love seeking perfection as imagined, which may not exist.
- Mystic Love: Love of God, seeking peace and spiritual fulfillment.
- Sensual Love: Carnal love, involving attraction and physical contact.