Mastering Opinion Articles, Linguistic Registers, and Literary Essays
Newspaper Articles
They aim to expose a point of view, analyze, or criticize any issue or fact. These texts are argumentative.
Opinion Article
Expresses thoughts on topics of general interest or current affairs. Structure:
- Introduction: Presents the topic and defends the thesis.
- Development: Provides arguments to prove the thesis.
- Conclusion: Synthesizes the arguments, showing the thesis has been proven. Includes the author’s name and profession.
Column
A shorter form, presented daily, covering a wide variety of topics. Linguistic resources include:
- Evaluative lexis (point of view)
- Use of the first person
- Rhetorical questions
- Appeals to the receiver to seek complicity
- Rhetorical resources that denote a subjective point of view
- Connectors
Linguistic Registers
Colloquial
- Own topics of everyday life.
- Little specialization.
- Body language, onomatopoeia, euphemisms, sayings, phrases, metaphors.
- Polysemous language.
- Simple syntax.
- Used in chats with family and friends.
Scientific
- Objectivity, high level of formality, elaborately constructed.
- Precise lexicon.
- Includes specialized terms.
- Used in journal articles in science, technology, and medicine.
Literary
- Subjectivity characterized by aesthetic intention.
- Tries to create excitement and pleasure.
- Phonetic and structural resources.
Standard
- Neutral range.
- Serves as a model of reference.
- Known by all speakers.
- Taught in schools.
Neologisms and Loans
Neologisms are new words created to designate new objects or concepts. They are fostered by:
- Radical Greek and Latin roots
- Composition and derivation of existing words (e.g., “disquet”)
- Initials
- Inclusion of words from other languages
Loans enrich languages from other languages, such as Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, and now especially English in technology and culture (e.g., hip hop, clip). Some loans have adapted to our phonetic and spelling conventions.
John Wood: The Essay
The essay is a literary genre in which ideas are freely exposed and discussed in a specific style. Essays are diverse, covering religious, artistic, and philosophical topics. The Civil War affected the essay, leading to censorship. In the 1960s, the ideological opening of the Franco regime led to published studies that valued and interpreted reality.
John Fuster (1922-1992)
His work focuses on the essay. He wrote suggestions and intuitions with an agile, strong, and scholarly style. In 1962, he published three important works: We are Valencia, Valencians, and the Matter of Names. He addressed issues ranging from our land to theoretical reflection, aiming to inform society and make it aware of its identity. His works include analyzing our literary history and reflecting on ideological, moral, political, cultural, and daily life materials. He always sought to review, criticize, and analyze forms of thought. He cultivated almost all essayistic forms: philosophical dictionary, essay length, newspaper article, and intimate dietary aphorism. His style is characterized by clarity and precision, rhetoric, and removing ampoule-Losito, to talk and bounce, puns, metaphors combined with popular expressions.