Spanish Language Variations and 19th-Century Romantic Literature
Spanish Language Diversity
Spanish in America presents internal diversity for two reasons:
- Lack of uniformity in the Spanish that was carried to America: Geography contributed to the precedence of the conquistadors.
- Lack of linguistic homogeneity: In each area, native towns learned Spanish, each developing its own accent.
Phonetic Traits
- Lisp: Pronunciation of ‘c’ and ‘z’ as ‘s’.
- Yeísmo: Pronunciation of ‘ll’ as ‘y’.
- Confusion of ‘r’ and ‘l’.
- Disappearance of ‘s’ at the end of words.
- Aspiration of ‘h’.
- Certain added consonants.
Morphosyntactic Traits
- Derivation of nouns with the suffix ‘-ada’.
- Diminutives.
- Use of the simple perfect preterite instead of the imperfect.
- Use of the imperfect subjunctive with indicative value.
- Use of “lo más” as an adverb of time.
- Use of “no más” as an adverb of location.
Regional Variations
Andalusian
Two varieties: Western and Eastern Andalusian. A unique vowel system to distinguish the plural. Lisp. Archaisms.
Extremaduran
Andalusian traits with Leonese influences. Aspiration of ‘f’. Closed vowels ‘e’ and ‘o’.
Murcian
A transitional speech between Andalusian and Aragonese, with Mozarabic and Valencian influences. Phoneme ‘t’ instead of ‘d’. Diminutives in ‘-ico’.
Canarian
Combines Andalusian and Caribbean Spanish. Changes in lexicon. Pronunciation of ‘ch’ with an accompanying aspiration.
Languages of Spain
Galician
Romance language, official in Galicia, with a great cultural and literary tradition.
Catalan, Valencian, and Balearic
Catalan evolved from Latin, and its dialects resemble Southern Provençal dialects. It presents two variants:
- Western Catalan: Andorra, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, and bordering areas of Aragon.
- Eastern Catalan: Northern Girona, Barcelona, Roussillon, Balearic Islands, Alghero.
Valencian: A variant of Catalan, with morphological, lexical, and phonetic differences.
Basque
Comes from Basque, not Latin. Its origin is unknown. Euskera is spoken by about 700,000 people but has a large number of dialects. Standardized variety: Euskera Batua.
Bilingualism and Diglossia
Bilingualism: A speaker’s ability to communicate equally in two languages, both officially recognized.
Diglossia: A situation of inferiority of one language with respect to another in a bilingual territory. The dominated language is used only in informal settings, and the dominant language is used in public.
Sociolinguistic Varieties
Diastratic or social varieties depend on the cultural level and use an elaborate linguistic code (proper pronunciation, extensive vocabulary, lexical precision, and syntactic complexity) or a restricted code (poor pronunciation, careless vocabulary, simpler syntax, and slang).
Dictionaries
- Language Dictionaries: Meanings of words.
- Etymological Dictionaries: Origin and evolution of words.
- Synonym and Antonym Dictionaries: Words with similar and opposite meanings.
- Dictionaries of Doubtful Words: Rules for words.
- Ideological Dictionaries: Vocabulary or associative lexical fields.
- Encyclopedic Dictionaries: Collection of knowledge.
- Grammar Dictionaries: Grammatical structure.
- Rhyming Dictionaries: Words ordered by their last syllables.
- Specialized or Thematic Dictionaries: Dedicated to a specific topic.
- Thesaurus: Words thematically related.
- Bilingual Dictionaries: Two languages.
19th-Century Romanticism
Romanticism emphasized creative freedom, originality through inspiration, and not adhering to rules. Literary genres were mixed, and verse was combined with prose. Art became synonymous with freedom. Ugliness became part of art. Subjectivity overwhelmed feelings and fantasy. Wild nature was a preferred landscape. Particularism and nationalism arose.
Authors
José Zorrilla
Wrote on nationalistic and oriental themes, and legends.
José de Espronceda
Wrote on social themes, such as “The Student of Salamanca” and “El Diablo Mundo.” These works explore impossible love, longing for freedom, rebellion, anger towards nature, existential angst, the dark and sepulchral, and local and national excitement. His style features long poems with dynamic rhythm and rhyme, brilliant sound, and archaic lexical and semantic fields related to the night and ruin.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Focused on intimate themes like existential frustration. His lyrical poetry, “Rimas,” eliminates patriotic and heroic elements of Romantic poetry and expresses love and the ineffable inner world of frustration. His style uses short poems with soft, melodic rhythm and assonance. Nature is used for connotations and symbolism.
Biography of José de Espronceda
Born in Almendralejo, Badajoz, in 1808, and died in Madrid. He fell in love with Teresa Mancha and traveled to London to meet with exiled Spanish liberals. He was influenced by Lord Byron. Elected a deputy of the courts, he died of diphtheria at 34. His early work was neoclassical, but he was later influenced by Lord Byron and Victor Hugo. He wrote the historical novel “Sancho Saldaña” and two narrative poems, including “El Diablo Mundo.”
Biography of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Born in Seville in 1836 and orphaned at age 5. His first poems were published in 1853 in a classicist style. In 1854, he moved to Madrid, where he lived a bohemian life filled with economic difficulties. He achieved fame posthumously with the publication of the manuscript of his “Rimas.” He fell in love with Julia Espín. His most important work was “Leyendas.” “Rimas” consists of 79 short poems on the fundamental theme of frustration. They have an appellate structure and stray away from sensationalism. The rhythm is simple and soft, and the vocabulary is filled with connotations. He was influenced by popular poetry and symbolism.
Rosalía de Castro
Born in Santiago de Compostela in 1837, she contributed to the “Rexurdimento” with Miguel Murguía. She died in 1885 at 48. Her work “On the Banks of the Sar” imposes existential pessimism, deepens anguish and pain, and reflects that love is a mirage and that the fate of every human being is solitude.
The Historical Novel
The historical novel features characters and events inspired by the past. It arose because Romantic authors idealized the way of life of distant epochs. Characteristics include rebellious and lonely protagonists living a romantic passion in a tragic ending.