Correspondence and Dialogue: Pragmatic Factors in Late Ramesside Letter-Writing.

• Author: Wente, Edward F.
• Position: Book Review

By DEBORAH SWEENEY. Agypten und Altes Testament, vol. 49. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2001. Pp. v + 327. DM 158 (paper).

Although it might take considerable time and effort to reconstruct how conversational ancient Egyptian sounded at any given period, considerable progress has been made in analyzing the grammatical and syntactical structure of Egyptian dialogue. In her volume Dr. Sweeney provides an exhaustive treatment of the interchange between writer/speaker and addressee in late New Kingdom letters, contemporary judicial documents, and the Report of Wenamun. In letters the immediacy of the interaction is, of course, compromised by the fact that there exists a time lag between utterance and response, whereas in the judicial papyri and Wenamun the recorded exchanges reflect greater immediacy. Nonetheless, a degree of skepticism is in order, since in recording the depositions of thieves responding to the authorities' questions, some son of editing was inevitable, if only because of the absence of tape recorders or short-hand stenographers.

For her organizational framework, Sweeney makes use of sociolinguistics, whose principles derive mainly from research into spoken dialogue. Some studies have examined aspects of correspondence, though one might query just bow broadly researched such investigations into letter-writing have been. Sociolinguistics appears to be undergoing constant refinement, and Sweeney usually makes it clear which principles she follows as she covers such topics as requests, questions and replies, information, complaints, and courtesy in a series of lengthy chapters.

While sociolinguistics has surely influenced Sweeney's overall thinking about letter-writing, it is not always apparent how the Egyptian evidence relates to the sociolinguistic preconditions and variables enunciated at the beginning of most of the chapters, or to what extent such principles refine the interpretation of the many passages that are cited. Sociolinguistics, it seems, has served more as a means of organizing the material rather than as a significant tool for perfecting translations. Sweeney's translations rest largely upon the application of sound philological principles of grammar and syntax. In the reviewer's opinion, this is where the strength of this study lies, not in any methodical application of sociolinguistic principles. As one reads through this volume, copiously supplied with footnotes, it is only rarely that a footnote provides...