Essential Concepts in Communication, Language, and Narrative

Understanding Communication and Language Fundamentals

• Communication: The process by which an issuer transmits a message to a receiver.
• Sign: A symbol that suggests the idea of something else.
• Language: The faculty that allows humans to communicate with one another through the use of oral signs.
• Concrete Language: A specific language shared by a community of speakers.
• Signifier: A set of sounds or written form that expresses a concept.
• Meaning: The associated idea or concept that a signifier represents.

Elements of Word Structure

• Root: The basic meaning of a word.
• Desinence: An ending added to the end of a word to build a different form of that word.
• Affix: A morpheme connected to the root to form a different word.
  • Suffix: Placed after the root.
  • Prefix: Placed before the root.
• Polysemy: A signifier that has more than one meaning.

Key Elements of Narrative and Storytelling

• Narrative: An account of actions, real or fictitious, involving characters.
• Facts: Events recounted in journalistic texts such as news or reports.
• Fictitious Events: Events recounted in literary stories (myths, legends, short stories, novels, etc.).

Types of Narrators

• Internal Narrator: A character present in the story, participating as a player or observer (first-person perspective).
• External Narrator: A narrator who does not participate in the described events; can be omniscient or objectivist (third-person perspective).

Characters and Narrative Space

• Characters:
  • According to their relevance in the story:
    • Principal: Protagonists (who bear the weight of the action and are often opposed by antagonists) and Antagonists.
    • Secondary: Supporting characters.
  • According to their psychological depth:
    • Flat: Incarnate stereotypes, responding to a pattern of predictable behavior.
    • Round: Offer greater psychological complexity and are capable of evolving.
• Narrative Space:
  • Real: Represents an objective reality (can be perceived objectively or subjectively).
  • Imagined Places: Created by the narrator, appearing realistic or fantastic, as in science fiction stories (can be probable or fantastic).
• Temporal Expressions: Places the action using various verbal forms and temporal markers.
• Characterization: Characters are characterized by their activities, descriptions, speech (monologues and dialogues), and thoughts (direct or indirect speech).

Fundamental Sentence Types and Grammar

• Enunciative: States a fact or an object that is affirmed or denied.
• Interrogative: Asks a question.
• Exclamatory: Expresses strong emotion.
• Hortatory: Gives an order or exhortation.
• Desiderative: Expresses a desire.
• Doubtful: Expresses doubt.
• Possibility: Presents a probability or possibility.
• Phrases: A group of words playing a particular role.
• SV (Subject-Verb): Refers to the core verb or verb phrase within a sentence.