The negligence and the laziness of the inhabitants of Brazil during the government of Morgado de Mateus – discursive and ideological aspects within an official letter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21165/el.v45i2.813Keywords:
Philology, Discourse Analysis, Appraisal System Theory.Abstract
This paper analyzes the discourse about the ways of life and the habits of the inhabitants of the São Paulo captaincy. The author was Morgado of Mateus, governor and captain general of that captaincy. The official letter, in which the discourse is written, was sent to his bosses in Portugal. The appraisal expressions show the semantic aspects of the discourse that reveal ideological and inter-subjective standards of the eighteenth century. Based on the philological edition of the handwritten text, the discursive analysis is supported by theoretical and methodological view of the Appraisal System Theory, a theory by Martin and White (2005). This analysis shows, therefore, the semantic level of an administrative and apparently formulaic official letter, but that expressly addresses the negligence and the laziness of the inhabitants of São Paulo captaincy.
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References
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