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Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 26:2 (2025) ► pp.262–287

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“I have come to the conclusion that you must die”

Threats in Late Modern English threatening letters

ORCiD logo with link | TU Dortmund University
Published online: 17 October 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.23016.neu
Abstract
This paper explores the linguistic realisation of threats in a corpus of threatening letters discussed in Late Modern English (lmode) criminal trials at the Old Bailey. After investigating how trial participants ascribe the action of “threatening” to the utterance in question, I examine which aspects are repeatedly addressed in the letters and which linguistic patterns are employed to perform the threat. The results show that speakers routinely address the preparatory and sincerity conditions of commissives to negotiate whether a letter is threatening. Compared to present-day threats, lmode threats are considerably less speaker-focussed, and more threats explicitly specify threatener, target, and type of harm to be carried out. Linguistically, lmode threatening letters contain a greater amount of taboo language and more non-conditional and retaliative threats.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Research on threats as a speech act
    • 2.2Historical analyses of threatening language
    • 2.3Metapragmatic speech act analysis
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1Data
    • 3.2Methodology
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Action ascription
    • 4.2Characterising threats
    • 4.3Linguistic patterns
  • 5.Conclusion and outlook
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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