Spanish Language & Literature: Dialects, Features, and Romanticism

Understanding Spanish: Dialects, Linguistic Features, and Literary Romanticism

Regional Varieties of Spanish and Other Iberian Languages

• Castilian Spanish: Includes dialect forms such as Andalusian, Murcian, Extremaduran, and Canarian.
• Catalan: Spoken in Andorra, Roussillon (France), and by some communities in Morocco.
• Galician: Found in Southwestern, Northwestern, Central, and Eastern Europe.
• Euskera (Basque): Dialects include Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, High Navarrese, and Souletin-Labourdine.

Key Linguistic Characteristics

Phonetics

• Seseo: Pronunciation of 'z' and 'c' (before 'e' or 'i') as 's'.
• Yeísmo: Pronunciation of 'll' and 'y' as a single 'y' sound.
• Aspiration or Loss of 's': Aspiration or complete loss of the phoneme 's' at the end of a syllable.

Grammar

• Voseo: Use of the pronoun "vos" instead of "tú" for the second-person singular informal.
• Simple Preterite Preference: Preference for the simple preterite (e.g., "hice") over the compound perfect (e.g., "he hecho").
• Imperfect Subjunctive Forms: Use of '-ra' forms (e.g., "cantara") instead of '-se' forms (e.g., "cantase").
• Diminutives: Frequent use of diminutives (e.g., "todito," "ahorita").
• Emphatic Constructions: Use of "de ser" with interrogatives (e.g., "¿Cómo fue que viniste?").

Lexicon

• Regional Variations: Words with different meanings compared to standard Peninsular Spanish (e.g., "coche" vs. "carro" for 'car').
• Americanisms: Words unique to Latin American Spanish (e.g., "granja" vs. "finca" for 'farm').
• Neologisms: New words, including Anglicisms (e.g., "rentar" for 'to rent').

Sephardic Spanish (Ladino)

A variety of Castilian Spanish spoken and written by descendants of Sephardic Jews, found in communities such as Ceuta, Melilla, Romania, the USA, and Israel.

Technicalities & Semantics

• Monosemy: Words with a single, concrete, and precise meaning.
• Denotation: The literal, primary meaning of a word, referring to reality.
• Synonyms: While not always common, exceptions exist (e.g., "dental" and "dentista" are related but not direct synonyms in the context of the original text's implied meaning).

Late Romanticism in Spanish Literature

Second Half of the 19th Century

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro were pivotal figures who moved away from rhetorical exaggeration. They shaped an expressive style based on naturalness and equilibrio (balance) of images, thoughts, and emotions.

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836, Seville – 1870, Madrid)

Orphaned, divorced, and suffering from illness, Bécquer died young. His complete works were published posthumously in 1871.

Poetry: Rimas (Rhymes)

• Reflects his personal life, exploring themes such as:
  • Love and beauty
  • The broken heart
  • Pain, anguish, and loneliness
  • Reflections on poetry itself
• Metric Style: Characterized by naturalness, intensity, and sincerity of feeling. Utilizes heptasyllabic (seven-syllable) and hendecasyllabic (eleven-syllable) verses.
• Nature: Romantic equation of nature with volatile or imprecise elements.

Prose: Leyendas (Legends)

• A posthumous collection of narrative prose.
• Features medieval atmospheres and characters.
• Includes elements of magic and the supernatural.
• Explores themes of impossible love.
• Often presents personified or magical nature.

Rosalía de Castro (1837 – 1885)

Her fragile health and the many setbacks in her life profoundly imbued all her poetry with a sense of pain and dissatisfaction.

Major Poetic Works

• Cantares Gallegos (Galician Songs)
• Follas Novas (New Leaves)
• En las orillas del Sar (On the Banks of the Sar)

Poetic Style

• Simple, anti-rhetorical language.
• Dominance of assonance.
• Variety of metrical combinations, stanzas, and verses (e.g., 14, 16, and 18 syllables).