BE i EA - Diverses anàlisis pragmàtiques d'una guia lingüística trilingüe de 1642

Abstract

This article analyses pragmatic linguistic aspects of the conversations in the 1642 Castilian-French-Catalan version of the Berlaimont-style language guide published by Pere Lacavalleria. These are probably the first attempts to set common spoken Catalan in dialogues. What forms of addressing, greeting, thanking and expressing dissatisfaction do we find in our corpus, and which are likely to be authentic Catalan from the mid-seventeenth century? We mostly likely see authentic Catalan when formulations differ from both the Castilian and the French versions. Examples include ‘lo meu be’ as a form of address used by a male guest trying to seduce the chambermaid; ‘sia ben arribat’ as a phrase of welcome; ‘à Deu siau’ as a leave-taking phrase; ‘moltas gracias’, ‘grans gracias’ and verbal phrases with ‘gracias’ for thanking; ‘gracias à Deu’ for ‘thank God; fortunately’; the pattern ‘Com se diu? – jo m dic...’; ‘axi axi’ as an unenthusiastic reply to the question of how one is feeling; ‘No en veritat’ for strong negation; ‘anau ahont vullau en nom de Deu’ as an angry reply to a customer’s offer; and combinations with ‘be’, ‘ea’ and ‘vaje doncs’ as phrases expressing sighing or giving in.