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Russian Linguistics

, Volume 35, Issue 1, pp 1–11 | Cite as

Don’t shoot the messenger. A pragmaphilological approach to birchbark letter no. 497 from Novgorod

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Abstract

The article analyses the communicative function and linguistic form of Novgorod birchbark letter no. 497 (N497) within a pragmaphilological framework. By applying a function-to-form mapping and taking into account the graphic representation of the text, I propose a new reading, in which the messenger plays a central role in the communication chain and in which the spoken word continuously interacts with the production and interpretation of the written document. This makes N497 a ‘communicatively heterogeneous’ text, a recently identified category of birchbark letters which deserves special attention in the wider field of historical pragmatics.

Прагмафилологический анализ новгородской берестяной грамоты № 497

Аннотация

Статья посвящена прагмафилологическому анализу коммуникативной функции и языковой формы новгородской берестяной грамоты № 497. Исходя из соответствия функции и формы и принимая во внимание графические характеристики грамоты, предлагается новая интерпретация документа с акцентом на своеобразный статус посыльного в коммуникативной цепи и устный фактор в берестяной переписке. Грамота № 497 является ‘коммуникативно неоднородным’ текстом, относясь к недавно выявленной категории берестяных грамот, которая заслуживает серьезного внимания как объект исторической прагматики.

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© The Author(s) 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Slavic Languages and CulturesLeiden UniversityLeidenThe Netherlands

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