Spanish Grammar, Linguistic Concepts, and Tirant lo Blanc Analysis

Item 6: Types of Subordinate Clauses

Substantive, Adjective, and Adverbial Clauses

Syntactic Functions: Subject, direct object, attribute, indirect object, agent complement, and prepositional complement.

Adjective Clauses: Functions and Connectors

Connectors: Who, what, which, where, whose, whom.

• Explanatory: Provide additional quality; they are not essential to the antecedent and are set off by commas.
• Specificative: Essential to the meaning; they are written without commas.

Orthographic Rules

• S: Used for the top word, prefixes, between vowels, or between a consonant and a vowel.
• SS: Used in compounds (e.g., gressor, gressio, missio, equipment, pressure) and in feminine names with the suffix -esa.
• C (before E, I): Used in the middle of words; the vowel type c is used if it precedes e or i.
• Ç (before A, O, U): Used in suffixes (e.g., cabço, force).

Linguistic Concepts

• National Language: A language spoken by a group of people within a State territory, originating from that region. Historical languages in Spain (Catalan, Spanish, Galician) are considered native or national languages of their respective territories.
• Official Language: The instrument used for communication between state administration and citizens. Different languages in the same territory lead to two scenarios: co-officiality or dual officiality (often asymmetric or non-paritarian).
• International Language: A language learned by individuals regardless of their native tongue (e.g., English). Internationality does not depend on the number of native speakers. Artificial languages, such as Esperanto, can become international despite having no native territory.

Tirant lo Blanc

Joanot Martorell (Gandia, 1413–1468) was a gentleman immersed in a world defined by chivalric values. Involved in numerous conflicts throughout his life, he often sought resolution through extreme challenges. These experiences likely inspired his novel, Tirant lo Blanc.

The novel narrates the adventures, warfare, and love life of the knight. The protagonist travels to England for a royal wedding with the intention of joining the Order of Chivalry. The narrative follows his journey through England, Sicily, Rhodes, the Greek Empire, and North Africa, where he fights to liberate the empire.