Lexical Features of Diplomatic Discourse during the Period of Aggravation of the Eastern Question

(Based on Archival Documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, 1880)

Abstract

The presented work is carried out within the framework of two humanities disciplines; at the junction of history and linguistics. The study aims to analyze the lexical characteristics of diplomatic correspondence in selected documents, to examine the properties of their lexical composition and structural formats, and to determine the role and influence of such correspondence on the resolution of the Eastern Question in the history of diplomacy within the context of the studied period.

 The paper gives a definition of diplomatic discourse and emphasizes its characteristics. As the analysis of the constitutive features of French diplomatic discourse in the texts of archival materials of diplomatic correspondence of the crisis stage of the Eastern Question shows, at the lexical level there is a characteristic presence of terminology from the military, legal, and diplomatic fields. The latter is explained by the strong pressure on the weakened Ottoman Empire in order to implement the decisions of the Berlin Treaty. The deciphered and translated handwritten archival materials are introduced into academic circulation for the first time.