V.N. Tatishchev's Diplomatic Letters in the Genre Aspect (Based on the Documents of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia)

Diplomatic letters written in the 18th century are considered in the article within the independent epistolary genre. The material for the analysis was comprised of the official letters written by Privy Councillor V.N. Tatishchev during his governorship in Astrakhan and heading the Kalmyk Commission at the Board of Foreign Affairs. The documents are stored in the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The study was conducted using the model of document genre that combines multi-level coordinated parameters, such as: "function," "addresser," "addressee," "nature of the information transmitted," "structure," "modality," "space," "time." Their content is determined as well as their speech embodiment, which reveals both standardization and variability, is characterized. Standardization is shown to actualize in the use of speech formulas for denoting the addresser and addressee, compliments, the date of the document. Their accentuation in the text and fixed location on the sheet indicate the formation of the template composition of letters, as well as the three-part structure of the document. The variability is found in the speech implementation of the regulation function, which is provided by the actualization of the modal meaning of inducement. Explicit and implicit means of its expression are characterized. Their choice is determined by the status of the addresser and the peculiarities of the situation documented. The identification of the genre parameters characteristic of a certain type of documents and their speech representation have enabled comprehensive representation of a letter as an independent genre of diplomatic communication, which reflects the development of the business language of the 18th century in its functional and regional diversity.