Hablar para decir, no para mentir: la lengua del mito

Abstract

The myth is a narrative discourse, a «history», and, in this sense, a logos. It is a practical and dialogical language, an act of speech. A language that communicates and serves to think. The mythical language, oral and symbolic, is malleable, fact that favors multiplicity of reinterpretations. This symbolic character refers to an indirect thought with a strong pragmatic and pedagogical charge. Considered original language, and catalogued as metaphorical linguistic thought, along with popular-maternal language, it is a language chosen by history, not defined by its letter but by the way it is said, by its intention. In this particular case, the myth functions as a meta-language with a sense of its own value. Myth is also an emotional language, which evolves with nature and the human being himself. In short, it is the collective voice, in figurative and metaphorical language, of the community, to which it provides cohesion, identity and a socio-political value.