Literality is a quality, condition, characteristic or virtue related to the literal. From the literary point of view, this expression represents the fidelity of a set of words exposed in the text with an exact and proper meaning.
Despite the "obviousness" behind the words, their interpretation may vary from person to person. Therefore, the precision of what is expressed must be supported by the type of language and presentation of the text.
At this point, it should be mentioned that this word is also applied in other disciplines such as translation and commercial law. In the first, being a specialization of literature, the translation must be supported by a deep knowledge of the language and the resources it has, in order to obtain a result similar to the original version.
On the other hand, in commercial law, it refers to the execution of resolutions as contemplated in the text, especially the so-called securities.
Meaning
Literality is fidelity to the words of a text or to the exact and proper meaning. Therefore, this expression is understood to encompass the presentation of the words and how they should be perceived by the reader.
As mentioned above, literalism extends into different fields of human knowledge, one of them being commercial law. It indicates that this term is one of the main characteristics of the law, because the law is governed by what is written in the document (in this case, the securities).
At this point, the meaning of literality can be added in the legal field, extracted from Gerencie.com:
"… The literal law is that which is contained in letters, written on a document (…) only and exclusively what is written in it is valid."
Language types
It is understood that the text has two types of language, the connotative and the denotative, so the meaning may vary according to the resources used by the author. In view of the above, the following is defined:
- Connotative language: it is a type of subjective and poetic resource, in order to give other meanings according to the words that are used. This item has a place in what is tended as literary language.
- Denotative language: indicates the real meaning of the words, since it does not allow free interpretations. It is supported in technical, objective, precise and referential terms. This is considered a type of non-literary language.
Literality marks
In view of the above, different types of marks are obtained in pointing out:
- Polysemy: refers to the set of meanings that a word contains and this is achieved depending on the presentation of the text. For some specialists, it is a resource widely used by authors to give elegance and force to their writings.
- Metonymy: it is the change of the meaning of a word when being joined with another.
- Comparison: expresses similarity and commonalities between two words, so links must be used (for example, “such”, “like”, “seems”), in order to establish said connection.
- Metaphor: it serves to grant an imaginary quality to a person, animal or object, without using a nexus.
- Anaphora: is the repetition of words in order to give rhythm to the text.
- Epithet or adjective: it is the sum of an adjective to a certain subject in order to present or highlight some quality of this.
- Antithesis: contraposition of two terms that have opposite meanings.
- Prosopoyea: it is the attribution of feelings, words and other human qualities to objects and animals.
- Hyperbatón: inversion of the order of the sentences in order to give rhythm and musicality to the text.
- Irony: it is one of the most popular resources in texts, since it focuses on implying a different meaning than what could be understood literally. Therefore, she uses mockery to get the message across.
Literality in translation
This expression also extends to other disciplines, including translation. An important aspect in this case has to do with the skills of the translator, since he must keep the main meaning of the original text to take it into another language.
The literalism must be, to some extent, flexible, since it has to preserve the spirit reflected in the writing, in addition to doing so using its knowledge in the area. Therefore, two important aspects of literality and its use in translation are highlighted:
-It allows to suppress the differences from one language to another.
-They help to understand how others think about a certain topic.
Literality in law
In this discipline, literalism is directly linked to commercial law, specifically to securities.
-The security can be: checks, promissory notes, bills of exchange, shares of a company or deposit receipt in a warehouse.
-The literal content is important and decisive according to what the security contains.
-Only what is already mentioned in the document can be asserted, therefore, a detailed description of the rights and the important aspects to be executed must be made.
- Verbal agreements will not be included, even if they have implied a voluntary action between the parties.
-According to experts, the literality is fulfilled in two phases: one that has to do with the writing of the document according to what is stipulated in the law, and the other that corresponds with the actions that the person who receives the benefit of that security must take.
Examples
-"The heart is the main organ of the circulatory system. Its function is to propel blood throughout the body ”.
- "The problem of labor insertion basically derives from the incapacity of the socio-economic system".
- "… The ancient event that can be dated in the universe (…) dates back to about 12 billion years."
References
- 10 Examples of short scientific texts. (2018). In Ortografía.com.es. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Ortografía.com.es of ortografía.com.es.
- Literality. (sf). In Definition a. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Definition a from definiciona.com.
- Literality. (sf). In WordReference. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In WordRerence at wordreference.com.
- Literality (first part). (sf). In Logos. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Logos de courses.logos.it.
- Literality of the securities. (2017). At Gerencie.com. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Gerencie.com of gerencie.com.
- Literality, necessity, autonomy: attributes of securities. (2010). In Scielo. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Scielo de scielo.org.co.
- Marks of literality. (sf) In Club Essays. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Club Ensayos de clubensayos.com.
- Securities. What is a security? (sf). At Gerencie.com. Retrieved: October 4, 2018. In Gerencie.com of gerencie.com.