This paper explores the question how far “letters” as one specific text type can be subdivided into smaller groups of texts (i.e. subtypes such as “requests”, “orders”, or “reports”) on the basis of socio-psychological and pragmatic dimensions and factors, including speech act and accommodation theory. This paper argues that this differentiation into socio-pragmatic subtypes actually can be made and that these subtypes materialize in significant systematic morphosyntactic variability. The idea is explored and illustrated on the basis of pronoun and relativizer variation in the late Middle English Paston Letters. In particular, it is shown how authors use their individual stylistic freedom to pursue specific communicative goals in different types of letters.
2018. Style-shifting and accommodative competence in Late Middle English written correspondence: Putting Audience Design to the test of time. Folia Linguistica 52:s39-s2 ► pp. 383 ff.
Hernández-Campoy, Juan M. & Tamara García-Vidal
2018. Persona management and identity projection in English Medieval society: Evidence from John Paston II. Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 4:1 ► pp. 33 ff.
Marcus, Imogen
2018. Prose Structure in Its Social Context. In The Linguistics of Spoken Communication in Early Modern English Writing, ► pp. 225 ff.
Marcus, Imogen
2022. A Comparative Investigation of Anaphoric Reference Devices in Anglo-Norman and Middle English Personal Letters. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 57:1 ► pp. 225 ff.
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