DEAR SIR OPPURE EGREGIO SIGNORE – UNO SGUARDO COMPARATIVO SULLA RETORICA E SULLO STILE DELLA LETTERA COMMERCIALE INGLESE E ITALIANA
A Comparative View on the Rhetorics and Style of English and Italian Commercial Letters

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze some features of Italian and English commercial letters in a contrastive manner. Some historical aspects related to this type of letters and the role of ars dictaminis in creating this genre have been highlighted. As for the rhetoric and style, this paper analyzes pragmatic aspects pertaining to the reference system and politeness in the two languages. The relevance of cultural aspects has been also discussed. Taking into account some etymological aspects, this paper attempts to prove that the language of Italian commercial letters displays a higher degree of emotiveness as compared to the language of English commercial letters.

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