O kierunkach genologicznych transformacji - w poszukiwaniu zmian w przestrzeni kształtowania się komunikacji społecznej

Abstract

This paper deals with research into the process of evolution of speech genres and attempts to reflect the stages of the transformation of forms of expression representing mass communication since the beginning of its functioning until the present day. Thus, the author focused on a press release as a genre that already appeared in the oldest Polish newspaper, in “Merkuriusz”. The observation covered two stages of the development of the newspaper – the beginning – the seventeenth century and the end: contemporary times. Such an approach towards the text material helped the author compile and compare the constitutive features of the seventeenth-century press messages with the properties which the contemporary definitions and studies ascribe to this genre, and which are important for its development. Conclusions reflecting the evolution of the studied genres are supported by the fact that these periods were milestones in the development of the Polish press – the analysis included to a large extent the specificity of the state of development of the formal and technical means: in the seventeenth century the invention of printing and modernization of post offices were the state-of-the-art technologies, while nowadays these are the technical revolution and the internet.