Linguistic Fundamentals and Cervantes's Literary Legacy

Linguistic Concepts: Morphology and Parts of Speech

Morphology: The Study of Words

Morphology is the discipline that studies the word, its structure, its smallest constituent units (morphemes), their classes, and the mechanisms available in a language to create new words.

The Noun

Defined from different points of view:

• Morphological: Noun morphemes accept gender and inflectional number.
• Syntactic: Functions as the core of a Noun Phrase (NP).
• Semantic: A word class for persons, animals, objects, or concepts.

Types of Nouns: common, proper, concrete, abstract, individual, collective, countable, uncountable, animate, and inanimate.

The Adjective

Can be defined according to:

• Morphological: Adjective morphemes accept gender, number, and degree.
• Syntactic: Functions as a modifier adjacent to a Noun Phrase (NP).
• Semantic: Expresses a characteristic of the noun it modifies.
  • Specifying: Adds a new quality to the noun it accompanies.
  • Explanatory: Does not add a new quality, but emphasizes a quality that is understood to already belong to the noun.

Degrees of Adjectives: positive, comparative (superiority, inferiority, equality), and superlative.

The Determinant

A word used to introduce, specify, or clarify the meaning of the noun they accompany.

Types of Determinants:

• Article (e.g., the, a, an)
• Demonstrative (e.g., this, that, these, those)
• Possessive (e.g., my, your, his)
• Indefinite (e.g., some, other, many, few)
• Numeral (e.g., ordinal: 1st, 2nd...; cardinal: 1, 2...)
• Interrogative (e.g., which, what)
• Exclamative (e.g., what a, such a)

The Adverb

An invariable word class.

• Syntactic: Functions as the nucleus of an Adverbial Phrase (AdvP), as a quantifier, or complements the verb by adding or modifying circumstances.

Syntactic Phrase

A set of words that function as a unified syntactic unit.

Miguel de Cervantes: Literary Impact

Cervantine Literature: A Synthesis of Eras

Cervantine literature, spanning the 16th to 18th-century transition, is characterized by two key elements:

1. Acuity: Both verbal and conceptual sharpness.
2. Reconstruction of Codes: Reflecting a new worldview that led to a different interpretation of traditional literary elements.

Cervantes's work became a synthesis of the literary currents of his time, mixing traditional elements and rebuilding codes in a way that was new to the readers of the era. He dedicated himself to all literary genres, but his enduring fame is primarily due to his narrative works, as he opened new literary paths.

Key Features of Cervantes's Work

• A critical view of society of the time, using subtle irony and realism.
• Skillful psychological characterization of his personajes (characters).
• Mastery of different language registers (popular, religious, literary, etc.).

His work synthesizes the currents of the moment, but with originality, he introduces and modernizes various elements of these currents.