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32 - Historical Sociopragmatics

from Part III - Approaches and Methods in Sociopragmatics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2021

By
Magdalena Leitner  and
Andreas H. Jucker
Edited by
Michael Haugh ,
Dániel Z. Kádár  and
Marina Terkourafi
Michael Haugh
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Dániel Z. Kádár
Affiliation:
Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics, and Dalian University of Foreign Languages
Marina Terkourafi
Affiliation:
Leiden University
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Summary

Historical sociopragmatics studies the social dimension of language use from a historical perspective. Like historical pragmatics in general, it must rely on written data (except for the very recent past), which poses some specific analytical challenges. In this contribution, we show how approaches to these challenges have developed in recent years. The research focus in historical sociopragmatics has followed the trend in sociopragmatics, where the earlier focus on a mapping between specific linguistic forms and specific pragmatic functions is increasingly extended to a wider consideration of the discursive nature of pragmatic entities whose function only emerges in the interaction between conversational partners. We illustrate such a discursive approach with an analysis of a sequence of letters from the Breadalbane Collection, 1548--83, in which leading members of a Scottish Highland clan negotiate their relationships, their respective roles and the wider impact of events that led to growing tensions between them.

Keywords

historical pragmaticshistorical sociopragmatics(im)politenessoffencerelationships
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics , pp. 687 - 709
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Sources

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National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh. Papers of the Campbell Family, Earls of Breadalbane (Breadalbane Muniments), MS NRS GD112/39/3/24, MS NRS GD112/39/3/26, MS NRS GD112/39/3/27, MS NRS GD112/39/5/2.Google Scholar

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