Stephanites’ gadl Ethiopia.Metalinguistic markers of the genotype
The Stephanites’ gadl is a literary genre which had a stabilised position in the Christian Ethiopian literature. This paper seeks to explore its features as follows: Firstly, by placing it in the circle of external contexts: early-Christian literature, Ethiopian literature, hagiography. Secondly, by analyzing the characteristics of its internal metalinguistic markers. Six of those markers seem particularly essential: 1. hypertheme and amplifications, 2. genre heterogeneity poetry and prose along with drama elements, 3. the manner of constructing various types of sentences, symbols and metaphors, 4. types of beginnings and endings, 5. intertextuality and palimsests, 6. function and pragmatic context.