Old Russian Birchbark Letters: A Pragmatic Approach

Dekker, Simeon

ISBN 10: 900436238X / ISBN 13: 9789004362383

Published by Universiteit Leiden, 2018

About this Item

Original boards, 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 433352-XY31

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Old Russian Birchbark Letters: A Pragmatic Approach
• Publisher: Universiteit Leiden
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 900436238X
• ISBN 13: 9789004362383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

This study is devoted to a corpus of Old Russian letters, written on pieces of birchbark. These unique texts from Novgorod and surroundings give us an exceptional impression of everyday life in medieval Russian society. In this study, the birchbark letters are addressed from a pragmatic angle. Linguistic parameters are identified that shed light on the degree to which literacy had gained ground in communicative processes. It is demonstrated that the birchbark letters occupy an intermediate position between orality and literacy. On the one hand, oral habits of communication persisted, as reflected in how the birchbark letters are phrased; on the other hand, literate modes of expression emerged, as seen in the development of normative conventions and literate formulae.

About the Author

Simeon Dekker, Ph.D. (Leiden University, 2016) is a researcher in Slavic philology. His main focus of research concerns the pragmatics of medieval texts.