Spanish Language Terms, Literary Genres and Figures of Speech

Lexical Types and Linguistic Terms

Communication involves the exchange of knowledge and experiences between persons, carried out through languages: emitter, receiver, message, channel, code, and situation. Bidirectional communication involves both the emitter and the receiver, while unidirectional communication involves only the emitter.

Word Formation

Siglas are words formed from the initial letters of several words, which are used as an abbreviation (AVE). Acronyms are formed from letters or groups of letters from the initial syllables (sida, sonimag). Abbreviations shorten words in writing, while speakers consider them long words (cole, boli).

Historical Changes and Borrowings

Words undergo a series of phonetic changes throughout history. Words taken from Latin include: grmanismo (germanism), guerra (war); arabismos (arabisms), arroz (rice); galicismos (gallicisms), fraile (friar); italianismos (italianisms), piano; americanismos (americanisms), cacao; anglicismos (anglicisms), tenis; lenguas peninsulares (peninsular languages): lusismos (lusisms), caramelo; vasquismos (basquisms), boina; catalanismos (catalanisms), paella; gallegismos (galicisms), morriña.

Other Lexical Categories

Neologisms are words that have newly entered the language, such as disciplina (discipline) studied in the new sense. Calques are words translated with Spanish words, or words adopted that match our pronunciation and spelling. Xenisms are words not assimilated into the language that keep their original form and partially their pronunciation close to that of the language of origin.

Literature: Lyric Poetry

Literature, or literature, represents the poetic function of language. The vocabulary used in literature has a purpose beyond the common norm of language and literary communication, and it has a strongly connotative character. A sonnet consists of two quatrains with a consonant rhyme (abrazado) and two tercets with consonant rhyme in each one. It has 14 verses.

Romance is a poem with an indefinite number of verses with consonant rhyme, usually in the even verses, while odd verses are free. All are octosyllabic.

Lyric is the poetic function of language: expressive, evocative, suggestive, and subjective. Lyric language has no argumentative plot. Compositions of cultured lyric include:

• Ode: a brief lyrical poem about love or a theme such as the praise of life (ode to a lofty theme), e.g., Fray Luis de León.
• Cancion: a cultured poem, brief and amorous (the erotic song), e.g., Lorca.
• Elegy: when one speaks of death (the 40 coplas on the death of his son), e.g., Manrique.
• Eclogue: a pastoral poem about love between shepherds.
• Satire: aimed at ridiculing someone (Vuelva usted mañana), e.g., Larra.
• Epistle: a poem in the form of letters (Lazarillo).

Jarcha: a short poem written in mozarabic. It presents a woman, a young girl who is in love and is missing her lover, and sometimes speaks to her friend. It was at the end of the strophic poem, the largest. Most are written in mozarabic. Its theme is love, carnal love versus divine love.

Narrative, Epic and Drama

Narrative tells of events external to the narrator, creating a fictional world in which characters live and events occur. All are narrated in a way that something external happens to the author.

Epic narration is an extensive narrative that tells of the warlike deeds of a hero. In principle, the concepts of narrative and epic are identified. Epopee is a grandiose composition in which gods and heroes intervene, related to the origins and beliefs of a people. Medieval epic narrative stands out for its excellence, narrating the adventures and deeds of a hero.

Theatre

Theatre brings all stories to life, like cinema. The first theatre book that exists in Spain is El auto de los reyes magos (12th century).

Novel

The novel is an extensive narrative written in prose. Currently, the novel is the formal literary genre, very complex and flexible. The genre itself, and its techniques, have been renovated in the 20th century.

Dramatic Genres

The genres of theatre are: tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, and drama.