Formuła wyrażania szacunku w strukturze osiemnastowiecznego listu polskiego
The Honorificative Formula in 18th c. Polish Letters

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses, from the formal, semantic, pragma- and sociolinguistic point of view, the honorificative formula that constituted one of the components of the final part of an epistolary Polish text of the 18th century. Most commonly, it took the shape of a conventionalized phrase which consisted of the preposition z (‘with’), an adjective, and a noun; e.g. z prawdziwym szacunkiem ‘with true respect’. The formula was syntactically dependent, as it was part of a larger whole – nearly always the subscription, i.e. the broadly understood signature of the author of the letter. The lexical composition of the formula showed considerable diversity. The nouns that constituted it include estymacja ‘esteem’, poważenie ‘reverence’, szacunek ‘respect’, weneracja ‘veneration’, and others. The attributes that described the main stem of the formula were also characterized by notable semantic diversity. Moreover, the honorificative formula could also appear in the form of a Latin quotation, e.g. profundo cultu. The usage of the formula depended on social and situational factors, namely it was used in letters to people of equal or higher social status (e.g. to members of princely families), as well as in highly official situations.

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