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Title:
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Address in Early English Correspondence: Its forms and socio-pragmatic functions
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Author:
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Minna Nevala
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Helsinki
, Department of English
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Degree Date:
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2004
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Historical Linguistics
Pragmatics
Sociolinguistics
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Subject Language(s):
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English
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Director(s):
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Matti Rissanen
Terttu Nevalainen
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Abstract:
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This study focuses on address forms in personal correspondence between 1400 and 1800. The purpose is to look at the use of address as a social and pragmatic phenomenon, and the focus is on the description of different forms of address as well as the pragmatic functions the use of address serves in personal relationships.
The dissertation consists of the methodological background and the studies. Firstly, it explains the social basis for the use of address: the stratification of early English society and the related issues of social mobility and literacy are discussed. Other issues connected with letter-writing in general, such as letter-writing manuals and delivery methods, are also introduced. Secondly, the background comprises the pragmatic models used in the studies.
The material comes from the Corpus of Early English Correspondence (CEEC). The corpus consists of 4.4 million words in c. 10,000 personal letters from about 1,000 writers (including the Extension and Supplement to the 1998 version).
The studies show that there are clear diachronic changes in the form and function of address. In general, address formulae are shortened, some titles even further conventionalized. Pragmatic changes include the increase in the use of positively polite address formulae in letters between close correspondents. Address used between distant correspondents requires a certain level of negative politeness, and therefore titles and honorifics are used. Later changes in the social structure may have influenced the standardisation of address, particularly in letters between socially distant correspondents; nevertheless, individual preferences have existed in direct address in letters between mutually close correspondents. The influence of normative letter-writing manuals on the use of address seems, however, to have remained marginal.
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