Theatrical and Literary Language: Characteristics

Theatrical Language

Theatrical language can be:

• Vanguard: The author aims to challenge the theater, allowing for the free flow of unknown emotions. Objects have a symbolic value; they are not real or intended to be.
• Realistic: The theater shows elements that could be possible, reflecting the real world.

The characters that appear in a play have their own language, sometimes not exclusively verbal:

• Nonverbal language: Uses extralinguistic elements, such as gestures.
• Verbal: The basis of the action lies in dialogue, which may also include monologues and asides.

Regarding the formal aspects, the following must be taken into account:

• The tone in which the piece is written (comical, realistic, worship, etc.).
• The syntactic structure of paragraphs provides elements that capture the rhythm the author intended for the action, whether static or quick.
• The glossary of characters: In theater, viewers form an idea of who the characters are and the vocabulary they use.

Spatial and temporal language is very important for the proper representation of the work. Thus, these two languages will vary depending on the work. We must also mention the dimensions, which are the marginal notes that the author writes so that the play is performed according to the exact idea they imagined when writing the work.

Literary Language

Literary language differs from other types of language in two key areas:

• The poetic language used expresses feelings, experiences, and the author's subjectivity.
• Poetic language has an aesthetic intention. This intention is essential to distinguish literary text from others.

Poetic language is fundamentally subjective and attempts to express a sense of beauty and strangeness.

Its characteristics are:

• Use of unusual words (archaisms, neologisms, etc.).
• Presence of unusual syntactic constructions (hyperbaton, parallels, etc.).
• Use of epithets.
• Employment of synesthesia.
• Presence of figures of speech.

Figures of speech can be divided according to the linguistic level:

• Phonic Level: A search for a sound effect. The most common is alliteration.
• Morphosyntactic Level: Includes anaphora and parallelism.
• Semantic Level: Personification, metaphor, and simile.

The text (by an inferred author) is a (type of text) that addresses an issue. Throughout the text, the author gives a personal view in which they present their reflections, utilizing irony to keep the focus on the text and make it more enjoyable. It is a dynamic text, characterized by short paragraphs. The divulgative text is addressed to a non-specialist general reader. There are no adjectives and connectors, a predominance of declarative sentences, and the use of examples. The benchmark function predominates, although the conative, emotive, and poetic functions are also present.