BETWEEN THE DIARY AND THE CHRONICLE:

STYLISTIC VARIATION IN THE WRITINGS OF MARIA DA GLÓRIA SÁ ROSA

Abstract

Stylistic variation is present in both spoken and written language, as these forms of language are also adapted to different contexts of use, a reality inherent to linguistic practice. In this context, this article aims to analyze aspects of this variation in a personal diary written by Maria da Glória Sá Rosa in 1998 and in the chronicle Rússia–Moscou — uma lembrança para sempre (Rosa, 2001), published by the author three years later. Based on the theoretical framework of Labovian sociolinguistics (Coelho et al., 2012; Freitag & Lima 2010; Labov, 2008; and Santos Silva, 2015), the study makes it possible to determine the social roles played by Rosa in each communicative situation, according to the degree of formality and contexts of production. Besides, the study draws on Bakhtinian theory (Bakhtin, 2016) in order to understand the distinction between the discursive genres that constitute the research corpus. The results obtained show that, when Rosa assumes the role of a diarist, she has greater freedom to adopt an informal register, due to the lower degree of linguistic monitoring in the situation and the prioritization of the interpersonal function (Kleiman, 2002); whereas, in the role of a chronicler, in which monitoring is higher, there is a predominance of the formal register and the presence of the referential function.