A contextual description of the ‘open letter’ genre

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2236-4242.v37i4p275-297

Keywords:

Epistolary genre, Contextual analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics

Abstract

Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, this article aims to describe the contextual patterns that define the epistolary genre known as ‘open letter’. Using a methodological procedure that combines, through contextual system networks, qualitative analyses with the quantitative categorization of a corpus of texts emically described as ‘open letters’, we perform a multidimensional investigation of what defines this sociosemiotic practice in contextual terms, thus complementing approaches that focus on its compositional structure. As a result, we have identified (a) a global pattern, motivated by the "openness" of the genre and characterized by a sociometric bias, public mode, and a categorical audience, and (b) two more specific patterns: a “traditional-argumentative” one, linked to an argumentative institutionality, and an “innovative-affective” one, associated with the public sharing of individual emotions made possible by digital technologies.

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Author Biography

  • Theodoro C. Farhat, Universidade de São Paulo

    Mestrando em Letras pela Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.

References

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Published

2024-12-27

Issue

Vol. 37 No. 4 (2024): Chiffons de Papier and the Resurgence of the Epistolary: Metamorphoses, Dynamics, and Confluences

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2024 Theodoro C. Farhat

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How to Cite

FARHAT, Theodoro C. A contextual description of the ‘open letter’ genre. Linha D’Água, São Paulo, v. 37, n. 4, p. 275–297, 2024. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2236-4242.v37i4p275-297. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/linhadagua/article/view/226105.. Acesso em: 31 mar. 2025.

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