Language in Letters of the Nobility in Early Modern Period

The letter is a fundamental means of communication. It enables a long term dialogue between sender and recipient at the level of written language. Until recently, the letter has been primarily analysed either as a literary phenomenon, and as such examined from a literary point of view, or as a source for historical research. Diachronical linguistics has so far only marginally dealt with the particular characteristics of the letter although it is exactly the dialogical aspect of the language of letters which can offer so many insights to historical linguistics. The communicative closeness between sender and recipient in letters of the Early Modern Period means that this language bears a closer resemblance to oral speech than printed sources of the same period. Therefore, an analysis of the language in letters can better reconstruct oral speech of the 16th to 18th centuries than that of printed examples. Through analysis of selected handwritten letters of aristocratic women and men, this project will provide a systematic overview of the development of language in handwritten texts in Austria between 1530 and 1770. We will determine whether language usage differs fundamentally between written and printed texts and whether the Reformation and the Counter-reformation influenced written and printed texts differently. In addition, we will examine the stylistic variation in the letters and the individual usage of different languages as well as variation at the orthographic, morphologic, lexical and syntactic levels. Another goal is to specify the linguistic means by which the communicative function in letters is expressed, e.g. use of dialect, sentence structure which imitates oral speech, and specific salutations. Gender specific differences in letter-language will also be examined to determine how great a role is played by differences in upbringing and education as well as role-expectations. The results should make a significant contribution to research in the development of the written German language in Austria from the 16th to the 18th century, its basis in oral speech as well as contribute to the research of specific types of texts in the Early Modern Period.