How to keep a register?
Fraenkel, Béatrice
How to keep a register? - 2008.
14
The distinction between oral and written is often mentioned in the literature on genre and register. However the distinction seems formal, disconnected from the concrete situations as those given, for example, by the workfield studies. We wish to discuss here the status of some written artifacts through the analysis of birth ceretificates. What is the role of graphic norms, are they a part of the genre? Is it possible to ignore that the act of registration is also the making of an object, the register? The notion of "professionals genres" could be used to classify that type of practice strictly defined by procedural activities which guarantee the performative value of the documents. But it is only by referring to the historical dimension that we can understand the rigidity of such practices: it is the State that registers and validates one's civil status in the long term. In such a case, to keep a register is to create an object, to perpetuate graphic norms, preserve information and perpetuate an institution fundamental to the French Republic. Beyond this example appears the more general question of the status of written artifacts, be they modest or exceptional, which are both the support and the product of writing.
How to keep a register? - 2008.
14
The distinction between oral and written is often mentioned in the literature on genre and register. However the distinction seems formal, disconnected from the concrete situations as those given, for example, by the workfield studies. We wish to discuss here the status of some written artifacts through the analysis of birth ceretificates. What is the role of graphic norms, are they a part of the genre? Is it possible to ignore that the act of registration is also the making of an object, the register? The notion of "professionals genres" could be used to classify that type of practice strictly defined by procedural activities which guarantee the performative value of the documents. But it is only by referring to the historical dimension that we can understand the rigidity of such practices: it is the State that registers and validates one's civil status in the long term. In such a case, to keep a register is to create an object, to perpetuate graphic norms, preserve information and perpetuate an institution fundamental to the French Republic. Beyond this example appears the more general question of the status of written artifacts, be they modest or exceptional, which are both the support and the product of writing.
Réseaux sociaux