A microanalysis of Rio Grande do Norte official letters

ABSTRACT Between variation and change, as we know, not only language, but also the texts, with their structures, undergo changes over time. This article aims to analyze textual changes observed in letters of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. These documents are part of the corpus called “Rio Grande do Norte official letters” connected to the regional project History of Brazilian Portuguese in Rio Grande do Norte (PHPB-RN) and the national one: History of Brazilian Portuguese (PHPB). We perform a micro-analysis of these letters, built upon the ideas of Coseriu and on the studies about discursive traditions (KOCH, 1997; KABATEK, 2006), according to which, texts are shaped to follow their own tradition (COSERIU, 2007). Firstly, we focus on the “letter” genre and its macro-structure; and afterwards, on the micro-structure clausula (valediction). This analysis shows some processes of variation and change which these official letters underwent, as well as how textual dynamics can indicate social change.