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Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 25:3 (2024) ► pp.419–449

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Politeness, speech acts and socio-cultural change

The expression of gratitude in the history of English

ORCiD logo with link | University of Wuppertal
Published online: 29 January 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.21005.has
Abstract
This paper studies the long-term diachronic development of the speech act of expressing gratitude in the history of English in Britain. The speech act underwent a considerable transformation from a religious-devotional practice and an expressive act with a high illocutionary weight addressed to a fellow human being towards a predominantly phatic routine in everyday conversation. Based on empirical data it is suggested that this development is characterised by the interplay of four processes: recontextualisation, functional expansion, attenuation/reduction of illocutionary force, and routinisation. Since, as will be shown, these changes run parallel to major changes in the organisation of society in the social history of Britain, they appear to be part of more general socio-cultural transformational processes that affected behavioural conventions, including politeness conventions and communicative routines.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Social history and diachronic speech act analysis
  • 3.Capitalism, development of the individual self and the expression of gratitude
  • 4.Method and database
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1General development of the frequency and function of expressions of gratitude
    • 5.2Period I: Expressing gratitude in feudalism
    • 5.3Period II: Early capitalism
      • Recontextualisation
      • Functional expansion
      • Attenuation
      • Routinisation
    • 5.4Period III: Modern capitalism
      • Recontextualisation
      • Functional expansion
      • Attenuation
      • Routinisation
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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