The role of meta-genres in the construction of genre: A generic stability factor?

Authors

  • Valfrido da Silva Nunes Universidade Federal de Alagoas
  • Maria Inez Matoso Silveira Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Abstract

This paper discusses how some meta-genres constitute a relevant factor for the generic stability of the memorandum in the administrative activities’ systems of the Federal Institute of Pernambuco (IFPE), Recife, Brazil, in the period between 1973-2014. From the theoretical point of view, the present work belongs centrally to the Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS), a perspective that defends genre as a social action motivated by recurrent rhetorical situations, mainly through the studies of Carolyn Miller, Charles Bazerman, and Janet Giltrow. As for the methodological aspects, this research is described as descriptive-interpretative, based on documentary analysis, whose nature is qualitative. The results indicate that the dictionary entries and the official writing manuals constitute conservative forces that contribute to the maintenance of the memorandum as a fairly formatted genre.

Keywords: Rhetorical Genre Studies, meta-genre, memorandum.

Author Biographies

Valfrido da Silva Nunes, Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Doutor em Linguística pelo Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras e Linguística da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade Federal de Alagoas. Professor e pesquisador do Instituto Federal de Pernambuco (IFPE), Campus Garanhuns. Líder do GEL - Grupo de Estudos em Linguagens (IFPE/CNPq).

Maria Inez Matoso Silveira, Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Doutora em Linguística. Professora e Pesquisadora do Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras e Linguística (PPGLL). Faculdade de Letras (FALE). Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL). Líder do GETEL: Grupo de Estudos do Texto e da Leitura: perspectivas interdisciplinares,vinculado ao PPGLL/FALE/UFAL/CNPq.

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Published

2018-10-26

How to Cite

Nunes, V. da S., & Silveira, M. I. M. (2018). The role of meta-genres in the construction of genre: A generic stability factor?. Calidoscópio, 16(2), 303–314. Retrieved from https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/calidoscopio/article/view/cld.2018.162.12

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2018): May/August

Section

Articles

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