Key Concepts in Language and Text Analysis

Sentence Types and Moods

Types of Predicative Sentences:

• Transitive
• Intransitive
• Active
• Passive
• Reflexive
• Reciprocal
• Impersonal (no subject: e.g., "It is raining")

Sentence Modality (Mood):

• Declarative (Enunciativa)
• Interrogative
• Exclamative
• Tentative/Dubitative
• Desiderative (Expressing desire)
• Imperative (Command)

Verbs and Tenses

Examples of tenses:

• Past Simple: I ate.
• Perfect: I have eaten.

Polyphony in Communication

Polyphony refers to the set of voices participating in the development of any communicative situation. We can distinguish between:

1. External Reality: The actual author of the text (the issuer who truly produces the text) and the actual reader (the real receptor).
2. Model: The model or image of each participant that the other creates. The author has a model reader in mind (the type of reader the text is aimed at), and the reader also forms an image of the author.
3. Created Reality:
   • The Speaker (Locutor): The voice that leads the text, often referred to as the narrator in narrative texts. The speaker can also address someone directly within the text (the addressee or locutari).
   • The Enunciator: The speaker when different characters take their own voice within the text (e.g., through dialogue).

Reported Speech

Reported speech is when we write or reproduce the words of others:

• Direct Discourse: Literal reproduction.

  Example: Laura says: "I am not going to invite you..." (Uses first person, quotes, declarative verb).

• Indirect Discourse: The speaker incorporates the statement of another person into their own speech with textual adaptations.

  Example: Laura said that she was not going to invite me... (Changes possessives, person, tense).

• Free Indirect Speech: Combines characteristics of both direct and indirect speech.

  Example: Laura said: Never again would she invite anyone.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is when we include words or snippets of text from other texts. This is very common in academic writing, where citing references to the source is required to avoid plagiarism.

Compound and Subordinate Sentences

Compound Sentences: Sentences formed by combining clauses.

• Coordinated: Clauses linked by conjunctions (e.g., "and", "but", "or"). Example: I like tea, and she likes coffee.
• Juxtaposed: Clauses placed next to each other without conjunctions, often separated by punctuation (e.g., comma, semicolon, colon). Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.
• Subordinate: Clauses where one depends on the other (e.g., expressing a causal or temporal relationship). Example: I left because I was tired.

Subordinate Clause Types

Subordinate Noun Clauses: Function as a noun within the main sentence.

• Subject: What he said surprised me.
• Direct Object: I know that you are here.
• Attribute (Predicate Nominative): The problem is that we have no money.
• Indirect Object: I'll give whoever finishes first a prize.
• Complement of a Verb: We talked about whether he would come.
• Complement of a Noun: The idea that he might fail worried him.

Subordinate Adjective Clauses: Function as an adjective, modifying a noun or pronoun in the main sentence. Introduced by relative pronouns (e.g., "which", "that", "who").

Example: The book that I read was interesting.

Textual Classification

Expository Text

Presents information objectively.

• Structure: Introduction, Development of the topic, Conclusion.
• Often uses non-verbal support (titles, bold text, images).

Argumentative Text

Aims to persuade the reader.

• Structure: Introduction, Development (presenting arguments), Conclusion.
• Features: Dialogism, polyphony, logical order, subjective adjectives, verbs of thought/opinion ("say", "think", "believe").

Narrative Text

Tells a story.

• Structure: Approach (Introduction), Development/Climax, Outcome (Resolution).
• Features: Direct and indirect speech, connectors (temporal, causal), past tenses, action verbs.

Descriptive Text

Presents characteristics of people, places, or things.

• Types: Portrait (people), Topography (places).
• Features: Focus on attributes, use of adverbs and circumstantial complements, copulative verbs ("be", "seem"), adjectives.