Language Competence, Textual Properties, and Romance Linguistics

Text and its Properties

Linguistic Competence

• Knowing the rules for building sentences.

Communicative Competence

• Knowledge of strategies for constructing texts.

Written Communication Unit

A written communication unit meets a specific intention. The goal is to convince and drive full communication. It is enunciated in a context and has a known structure.

Textual Properties

• Adaptation
• Coherence
  • Theme: Known information, what is spoken about, the starting point of the idea.
  • Rheme: New information, what is called the item, information contribution to the subject.

  For ideas to be developed consistently in the text, there should be Theme Progression:

  • Steady progression
  • Linear progression
  • Derived theme progression
• Text Structuring
  • Inductive structure
  • Deductive structure
  • Circular structure
  • Successive structure
• Cohesion
  • Lexical and semantic connection
  • Grammatical connection

Romania and Romance Languages

Romania

A land which today forms part of the Roman Empire, speaking a language derived from Latin.

Romance Languages

• Spanish
• Catalan
• French
• Italian
• etc.

Embryonic Languages

• Aragonese
• Gascon
• Asturleonese
• etc.

Vulgar Latin

Was utilized in colloquial fieldwork, permeable to Germanic innovations, and diverged from the standard of Classical Latin.

Fragmentation of Romania

Factors contributing to fragmentation:

• Substrate
• Origin of settlers
• Intensity of Romanization
• Superstrate

Division of Romania

• Western:
  • Gallo-Romance (Catalan, French)
  • Ibero-Romance (Spanish, Portuguese)
• Eastern:
  • Italian
  • Romanian

Expository Text

An expository text presents information related to reality and fiction. It should be clear, orderly, objective, educational, and understandable.

Types of Expository Texts

• Informative Expository Texts: Use understandable language.
• Specialized Expository Texts: Require high skills.

Expository Text: Organization and Language

Structure

• Introduction
• Development
• Conclusion

Common organizational patterns:

• Cause and Effect: The fact and its consequences.
• Chronology: Temporal order.

Language Resources

• Vocabulary: Monosemic words, careful selection of vocabulary, neologisms.
• Morphosyntax: Third person, attributive clauses.
• Connectors: Order, contrast, addition, cause/condition/purpose, reformulating, exemplary.

Argumentative Text

An argumentative text presents reasoning to convince; it serves a conative and referential function.

Structure

• Introduction
• Exposition
• Development
• Conclusion

Thesis

Explicitly stated at the end or beginning.

Argumentation

Types of arguments:

• Examples: Facts.
• Authority: An author's opinion.
• Experience: Personal experience.
• Ethics: Values.
• Majority: Common opinion.
• Fallacy: Reasoning based on false premises.

Reasoning

• Deduction: From a general premise.
• Induction: From a series of arguments.
• Analogy: Based on something known.
• Concession: Argument supports the opposite.
• Absurd: Rebutting an adverse thesis.
• Dialectic: Presenting a contrary thesis.
• Objective: Presenting both sides of a thesis.

Discourse Markers

• Classifiers: (e.g., "first")
• Cause: (e.g., "as")
• Result: (e.g., "therefore")
• Opposition: (e.g., "but")
• Addition: (e.g., "as well")

Other Language Elements

The text can be denotative or connotative. It is denotative when objective and connotative when showing the emitter's position.

Catalan Language Evolution

The Catalan language emerged from the fragmentation of Vulgar Latin and was primarily known through oral tradition.

The Carolingian Renovatio

Promoted by Charlemagne, it marked a qualitative leap. Romance languages were promulgated, and at the Council of Tours in 842, the Oaths of Strasbourg were written.

Among the Catalan-speaking regions, a conflict arose between Latin and Catalan. Latin was still spoken, but Catalan was increasingly written.

The first documents were legal and in Catalan, and the first religious text was the Liber Iudiciorum and the Homilies d'Organyà.