Spanish Language Varieties and Textual Analysis
Item 3: Linguistic Varieties in Spain
Languages have three main types of varieties: diaphasic, diatopic, and diastratic. We should add a fourth: diachronic varieties.
Diachronic Varieties: Causes of Linguistic Evolution
- Pre-Roman Hispania: Before the Romans arrived, Celtic, Iberian, or Basque were spoken. Basque is the only survivor.
- Roman Empire: The conquest of the Peninsula introduced Latin, which gradually replaced the native languages.
- Germanic Invasions: The 5th-century fall of the Roman Empire led to invasions by the Suebi, Vandals, Alans, and Visigoths, marking the beginning of the transition from Latin to Romance languages.
- Muslim Conquest: In 711, the Muslim invasion introduced Arabic, which coexisted with Vulgar Latin, giving rise to Mozarabic.
- Reconquista: The Christian reconquest of the territory accentuated dialectal differences in Latin. Castilian’s expansion was solidified by political unity under the Catholic Monarchs, the printing press, and the 1492 conquest of Granada and discovery of America.
- First Dictionary and Grammar: The first Spanish dictionary and grammar were published.
- Romanticism: The 19th century saw the resurgence of Galician (Rexurdimento) and Catalan (Renaixença).
- 20th Century: After the Spanish Civil War, regional languages were relegated to domestic use.
- Present Day: Castilian is the official state language, with other languages recognized as co-official in autonomous communities.
Bilingualism: The common use of two languages in the same region or by the same person.
Diglossia: A type of bilingualism where languages have unequal social prestige.
Galician
A Romance language spoken in Galicia and parts of Castile and León.
Galician Features:
- Vocalism: Faithful to Latin vowels.
- Seven vowels.
- Open vowels e and o do not diphthongize.
- Consonants:
- Preservation of initial Latin f.
- Evolution of Latin consonant groups.
- Latin group ct evolved into it.
Catalan
Official in three regions, Catalan enjoyed literary prestige in the Middle Ages but declined in the 16th century before a 19th-century revival. It is now fully normalized.
Catalan Features:
- Vocalism:
- Eight vowels.
- Elision of unstressed final vowels.
- Consonants:
- Preservation of initial Latin f and g.
- Latin groups fl, pl, cl are maintained.
- Initial l is palatalized.
Basque
Unrelated to other languages, with eight dialects. Euskera Batua is the standardized form.
Basque Features:
- Simple and multiple vibrant opposition, five-vowel system with three degrees of openness (like Romance languages).
- Word order is different from Castilian.
- Nouns are declined, as in Latin.
Description: The role a word plays in referring to an extra-linguistic reality.
Synonymy
Relationship between words with the same or similar meanings.
- Absolute: Same meaning in all contexts.
- Conceptual/Cognitive: Semantic identity in a specific sense.
- Denotative: Shared denotation but different connotations.
- Reference: No relation between words.
- False Synonymy: Similar denotations but not interchangeable.
Antonyms
Words with opposite meanings.
- Complementarity: Negation of one implies the other.
- Gradual: Opposites with intermediate degrees.
- Inverse: Same reality from alternative viewpoints.
Polysemy
Multiple meanings for the same word.
Homonymy
Words with the same or different meanings but the same form.
- Homophones: Same pronunciation, different spelling.
- Homographs: Same spelling, different pronunciation or meaning.
Inclusion Relations
Hierarchical relationships: hypernyms (general terms) and hyponyms (specific terms). Cohyponyms share the same hypernym.
Item 4: Text and Speech
Text or Speech
The maximum communication unit, oral or written, in a specific communicative situation for a particular purpose. It must be appropriate, consistent, and cohesive.
Poetic License: When authors deviate from these requirements.
Adequacy
Textual property where the message fits the situation and the sender’s purpose.
Consistency
Unity of meaning in a text. Ideas are presented on the same theme and logically structured.
- Global Coherence: Overall unity of the text.
- Consistency Between Parts: Each part contributes to the overall meaning.
Theme: The information the sender wants to convey. The keyword specifically mentions the theme.
Rheme: New information related to the theme.
Idea: The result of the theme-rheme relationship.
Theme Progression: Repeating and adding information.
Cohesion
Connections between text parts.
- Lexical Resources: Repetition, semantic fields, synonyms, antonyms, hyponymy.
- Morphological and Syntactic Resources: Consistent grammatical person, tense, or sentence construction.
- Textual Resources: Elements that connect text parts (e.g., bookmarks, deictic elements).
Textual Modalities
- Narrative: Events in time and space.
- Descriptive: Representation of people, objects, etc.
- Dialogue: Conversation between characters.
- Exposition: Information and concepts.
- Argumentative: Reasoned opinion.
Oral and Written Texts
- Oral texts are temporary and fleeting; written texts are lasting.
- Oral communication is immediate; written is deferred.
- Oral language is interactive; written is unidirectional.
- Oral language is often spontaneous; written is planned.
- Oral language is more colloquial; written is more formal.
- Oral communication relies on non-verbal cues; written uses punctuation and textual deictics.
Statement
A word or group of words conveying a complete meaning, with a specific pitch and pause.
Sentence
A grammatical unit with a subject and predicate.
- Simple Sentence: One predicate.
- Compound Sentence: Multiple propositions.
Syntagma
A set of words playing a specific role in a sentence.
Subject
The constituent that agrees with the verb in number and person.
Predicate
The constituent expressing an action, event, or situation involving the subject.