We know that a text is nothing more than a set of words that form meanings, as long as these words are related to a certain context. The text is a fabric - hence the name - whose threads are the words. When harmonically intertwined, they can produce effects of meaning and significance.
The texts can be divided into two large groups: the literary texts and non-literary texts. While the literary language does not show a commitment to the transparency of meanings, thus provoking a multiplicity of interpretations according to our emotions and cultural experiences, non-literary language has its senses restricted, even though it is vulnerable to problems of understanding and interpretation by part of the reader. Even so, non-literary language has delimited characteristics, and its main objective is the creation of a discourse whose main concern is the linguistic object.
In order for you to understand the differences in the elaboration of literary and non-literary texts, look at two examples that well illustrate the characteristics of each type of language:
careless of garbage is dirt
Daily, two hours before the arrival of the city's truck, the management of one of the branches of the McDonald's deposits dozens of plastic bags filled with cardboard, Styrofoam, and scraps on the sidewalk. sandwiches. This ends up providing a lamentable feast of beggars. Dozens of them go there to rummage through the material and end up leaving the remains scattered on the sidewalk.
(See São Paulo, 12/23/92)
the animal
I saw an animal yesterday
in the filth of the yard
Picking up food among the debris.
When I found something,
Neither examined nor smelled:
He swallows voraciously.
The animal was not a dog,
It wasn't a cat,
It wasn't a mouse.
The animal, my God, was a man.
(Manuel Bandeira. In Seleta in prose and verse. Rio de Janeiro: J. Olympio/MEC, 1971, p.145)
The first text, an article published in a large-circulation magazine, is an example of non-literary language, whose information is conveyed in a clear and objective way. The main function of non-literary discourse is to inform, therefore, speech figures and other subjectivities are not welcome. The second text, a poem by Manuel Bandeira, deals with a theme that dialogues with that developed in the first text, however, literary language resources are used, which allow the subversion of semantic aspects and use of elements that make a text more expressive.
News, journalistic articles, didactic texts, entries in dictionaries and encyclopedias, advertising advertisements, scientific texts, cooking recipes and manuals are examples of non-language literary. In non-literary speech, an objective, clear and concise language must prevail so that the information is passed on efficiently, free from possible difficulties that impair the understanding of the text.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/linguagem-nao-literaria.htm
