The social-professional classification: a way to approach the study of forms of address

This paper proposes to add a new category to analyze the use of the forms of address in Portuguese, specifically in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Portuguese of Brazil. One of the main categories used in literature to describe and analyze the history and use of the FT's are those related to symmetry and asymmetry of the epistolary relationship. From a corpus formed by official letters carved in the captaincy of São Paulo between 1765 and 1775, it proceeded to the classification of epistolary relationships in symmetric and asymmetric, based on rigorous study of the socio-historical context of the period. It was found, however, that regardless of symmetry or asymmetry of the relationship, the preferred FT was vossa mercê. In order to check if it was a peculiarity of the sample, it has expanded the corpus of research by including similar documentation from varied places, namely: captaincies of Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Bahia, as well letters from the Baixada Santista region. Again, there was a wide use of the corresponding abbreviation of vossa mercê, both in symmetric and asymmetric relationships. It is proposed, therefore, the use of socio-professional category of the sender and the recipient - according to theoretical approach developed by Marquilhas (2000) - associated with the classification of the epistolary relationship in symmetric and asymmetric axes. The socio-professional category is a relevant factor for choosing FT's, as demonstrated by Monte (2013). The treatment inside the socio-professional category of the military, for example, is made almost exclusively by vossa mercê, regardless of symmetry / asymmetry of the dialogue, while ecclesiastical marked linguistically the higher hierarchical positions through the FT's use of high honorific value, such as vossa senhoria and vossa reverendíssima.