Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Language

Romantic Literature: Characteristics

• Importance attached to freedom of originality and individualism.
• Projection of rebellion and escapism into nature.
• Nationalism.

Poetry Traits

• Use of topics such as love, loneliness, and passion.
• Rhetorical language.

Prose was used, especially in fiction and journalism.

Realist Literature: Characteristics

• Sentimental exaltation replaced by observation.
• Plausible reality is portrayed, and criticism is present.
• The novel is the most cultivated genre.

Realistic Novel Features

• Interest in reality and everyday life.
• Treatment of current issues with objectivity and realism.
• Critical presence of the omniscient narrator.

Realism and Naturalism in Spain

• Prereality: Began in 1849 with Fernán Caballero, characterized by a moralizing

Morphological Units

Morphology requires identifying and describing extra units, which are the PABRA, root, base, and the morpheme.

• Word: Minimal free form. You can change its position in a sentence (but you can change the article by the noun). Its features are:
  • Separability: i.e., between two units, you can add others.
  • Potential pause: prior or posterior that delimits the unit.
  • If bounded by several morphemes, they are inseparable and have a fixed order.
• Root: Is the basic segment or constant in any significant word. It results from removing all morphemes that accompany it.
• Theme: Part of the underlying word for flexion, remaining stable in all the reflexive forms. It is the result of diminishing grammatical accidents. It can be simple or complex.

Catalan Grammar, Phonetics, and Poetic Structure

Orthography: Spelling Rules for P/B, T/D, and C/G

Behind a stressed vowel: The letters p, t, and c are written, although there may be words from the same family that are written differently. Ex: llop (wolf), humit (wet).

Behind an unstressed vowel: The same letter is written as it appears in the feminine form or in a derived word. Ex: àrab (Arabic), pàl·lid (pale).

Behind a consonant: The same letter is written as it appears in the feminine form or in a derived word. Ex: covard (coward), arrogant (arrogant).

When we write p/b, t/d, or c/g at the end of a syllable (not a word), we must look at the context in which they appear.

Catalan Poetic Metrics: Verses and Stanzas

Types of Verses

• Hexasyllable:

Lexical Relations

1. Synonymy

Words with similar meanings can arise due to various factors:

• Archaisms: Words falling into disuse.
• Dialectical variations.
• Technological advancements.
• Colloquialisms: Informal language use.
• Standard lexicon: General vs. specific terms.

2. Antonymy

Words with opposite meanings can be categorized as:

• Complementary: One term negates the other (e.g., single-married).
• Gradual: Opposition on a scale (e.g., big-small).
• Reciprocal: One term implies the other (e.g., buying-selling).

3. Hyponymy and Hypernymy

These describe hierarchical relationships between words:

• Hyponymy: A more specific term (e.g., pink, purple are hyponyms of color).
• Hypernymy: A more general term (e.g., color is a hypernym of pink, purple).
• Co-hyponyms: Terms sharing

Chapter 7: A Soldier's Prayer

A soldier in a trench is praying to Jesus, asking him to save him from the bomb attacks around him. He promises to be the best Christian possible if he survives. Even though the attacks immediately move away, he never fulfills his pledge in his entire life.

Characters

• Soldier
• Narrator
• Girl in the brothel

Setting

In the battle scene, we can sense fear, death, and anger. In the brothel, it is much happier, full of joy, peace, and pleasure.

Narrator

The narrator seems to be internal, but at the same time, he is omniscient (9).

Theme

The narrator is ashamed and hasn't forgotten what happened at Fossalta, so he's telling everyone the story in the third person, but letting slip that it was he who was praying. The last sentence... Continue reading "War and Peace: Two Short Stories by James Joyce" »

Phonic Resources

Alliteration

Repetition of phonemes or syllables in several words.

Paronomasias

Slight phonetic changes involved.

Diafora

Disparate meanings: repetition of a word with different meanings.

Morphosyntactic Resources

Anaphora

Repetition of one or more words at the beginning of successive verses or statements.

Epiphora

Repetition of a word at the end of several verses.

Anadiplosis

Repeating the last element of a group of words at the beginning of the next group.

Epanadiplosis

Repetition of a word at the beginning and end of a verse or sentence.

Polysyndeton

Repetition of conjunctions which does not require syntax.

Poliptoton

Repeating the same word with different grammatical accidents.

Enumeration

Sequence of words with the same syntactic function.... Continue reading "Rhetorical Devices" »

Joan Mari: Life and Work

Life

Born in 1948, Joan Mari is a prominent figure who now resides in San Sebastian. He completed engineering studies at university but never actively pursued a career as an engineer.

Work

His literary career began with the publication of his first novel in 1976. Titled Babilonia, this work quickly gained international recognition and is widely read. The novel delves into the history of the village of Babylon and its inhabitants. A central theme throughout the book is the continuous conflict and tense atmosphere, particularly concerning a "brother-drugs" dynamic. The title itself, Babilonia, is deeply influenced by themes of calamity and turmoil.

Ramon Leandro: Life and Literary Contributions

Life

Ramon Leandro was born in... Continue reading "Basque Literary Figures and Core Linguistic Principles" »

Theme 1: Properties of the Linguistic Sign

The linguistic sign possesses several defining characteristics:

• Arbitrariness: The relationship between the signifier and the meaning is established by convention; it is an arbitrary ratio.
• Discontinuity: The linguistic sign is discontinuous because it can be segmented (e.g., librito).
• Linearity: In oral communication, sounds are emitted one after another so that they arrive at the receiver in a sequence.
• Immutability and Mutability: It is said that signs and languages are immutable because their form and meaning are given to us, yet they can also change over time.

Functions of Language

Language serves various purposes depending on the focus of the communication:

• Referential or Representational: Corresponds

Pop Psychology: Psychology explains the behavior of an individual based on their mental states, manifested in the form of propositional attitudes such as wanting or creating. These mental states refer to something, i.e., they have intentionality, and can be analyzed linguistically as propositional attitudes. These are statements containing a verb that expresses an attitude towards a proposition, e.g., Alex believes the economics teacher is pretty. In this case, Alex holds an attitude (believes that) towards a proposition (the economics teacher is pretty). Thus, we understand the contents of Alex's state of mind given the proposition and can explain their behavior based on that belief.

It's the kind of psychology that's most popular and widespread

Tendering of a Food Service:
You delegate the administration of a service to others, but the responsibility belongs to the company that hires.
BID: It's the call or invitation to others to submit their proposals for a service.
CONCESSION: Service is awarded to the winning bidder.
DeLicitación Stage Process: Define the objectives, policies, and targets of the company. Indicate if the tender is public or private. Preparation of design, analysis, and approval of the bidding. Design calendar regulates the activities of the process (Gantt Chart).
Tender Process Activities:

• Starting date of the tender
• Sale of Bases
• Site Visit
• Reception of Consultations
• Responses to Consultations
• Initiation of the Tender Process
• Reception of Proposals
• Opening of Proposals
• Awarding