Spanish Novel Genres and Dialogue Features

Byzantine Novel

Byzantine novel. Narrate a sequence of sometimes inconsistent adventures that end with the happy reunion of lovers or family members after long pilgrimages across the world. The work Persiles y Sigismunda by Cervantes is representative of this genre.

Moorish Novel

Moorish novel. Topics: They narrate episodes of the conquest and choose Granada and its surroundings as a backdrop. Characters: They are typically prototypes of nobility, courage, and beauty. Work: Historia de los Abencerrajes y la hermosa Jarifa, by an anonymous author, marks a sentimental and chivalric character.

Italian Novel

Italian novel. Its source of inspiration was the Italian novellieri. In this genre the figure of Juan de Timoneda is important: he is the author of El Patrañuelo, a collection of stories which he called "lies." He drew on the Italian novellieri and updated and adapted those narratives to Spanish society of the time.

Dialogue

The dialogue. The dialogue is a communicative process in which two or more partners take turns using the word. In terms of message formalization there are two types of dialogue:

• Spontaneous communication: a spontaneous, improvised dialogue; it is usually informal and a playful activity.
• Planned dialogue: language is used to obtain specific information (e.g., an interview).

Features.

• Path of return.
• Dialogic tension: Dialogue is initiated and maintained through dialogic tension, i.e., the motivation that drives two or more interlocutors to establish a communicative exchange. Tension provides the structure of the dialogue in the following way:
  • Tension of connection.
  • Informative tension.
  • Silence.
• Consistency: Interventions in the dialogue must be consistent.

Classes of dialogue. Direct and indirect speech styles.

The language in dialogue.

• Lexical features: Use of verbs of saying and thinking to introduce character interventions.
• Morphological traits: Use of inflectional forms to convey information.
• Syntactic features: Prevalence of exclamative and interrogative sentences, interjections, and vocatives; generally more spontaneous language.
• Textual features: Elements referring to cohesion of the text (lexical repetitions, use of pronouns, etc.). Prevalence of interrogative, exclamative, and imperative sentences; abundance of personal pronouns (first person and second person); use of very general words that serve as placeholders; subjective ordering of sentence elements; and use of the second person in impersonal constructions.