https://doi.org/10.17684/i3A39en
Romanian letter-writing: a cultural-rhetorical perspective (II)
Affiliations
1Doctoral School of Philological Studies, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Bd. Carol I 11, 700506 Iași, Romania
2Faculty of Letters, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Bd. Carol I 11, 700506 Iași, Romania
History
Received March 23, 2016
Accepted April 12, 2016
Published August 1, 2016
Motto
“How should the conversation be? It should be clear and simple. These are also the two features of letter-writing.”
C. Donescu, Epistolariu culesu shi întocmitu asfelu..., 1840
Abstract
The article aims at revealing the features of Romanian letter-writing during its stages of formation and consolidation. The structural and the stylistic analysis of letters is carried out with regard to the composition of the documents written in Old Romanian according to the requirements imposed by the Slavonic template and with regard to the rhetorical division of the three styles: the simple style, the middle style and the grand style. The description of the Old Romanian epistolary style is based on a taxonomy inspired by Roman Jakobson’s functional communicative model (1964). Following the six factors identified by Jakobson, letters are classified according to the socio-cultural status and the communicative competence of the addresser and of the addressee and in line with the context, the channel and the linguistic code used to write them.
Copyright
© 2016 The Authors. Publishing rights belong to the Journal. The article is freely accessible under the terms and conditions of the CC-BY Open Access licence.