Reporting and social role construction in eighteenth-century personal correspondence
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Minna Palander-Collin
Abstract
Choosing who and what to report, writers adopt a position in interaction that serves their needs and expectations of the situation as well as the addressee’s expected needs. In this paper, we study reporting from a socio-pragmatic perspective with the aim of understanding the function of reporting in the communicative situations in which it occurs in eighteenth-century personal letters. Our analysis pays attention to the role of the reporter vis-à-vis the addressee, the reporting situation, the subject matter of the report, the identity of the person whose speech is reported, and the form of the reporting frame. The results suggest that reporting in eighteenth-century personal correspondence exhibits genre-specific characteristics but also relates to the writer’s role in the situation.
Abstract
Choosing who and what to report, writers adopt a position in interaction that serves their needs and expectations of the situation as well as the addressee’s expected needs. In this paper, we study reporting from a socio-pragmatic perspective with the aim of understanding the function of reporting in the communicative situations in which it occurs in eighteenth-century personal letters. Our analysis pays attention to the role of the reporter vis-à-vis the addressee, the reporting situation, the subject matter of the report, the identity of the person whose speech is reported, and the form of the reporting frame. The results suggest that reporting in eighteenth-century personal correspondence exhibits genre-specific characteristics but also relates to the writer’s role in the situation.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Language practices in the construction of social roles in Late Modern English 1
- Mr Spectator, identity and social roles in an early eighteenth-century community of practice and the periodical discourse community 29
- How eighteenth-century book reviewers became language guardians 55
- “if You think me obstinate I can’t help it” 87
- Reporting and social role construction in eighteenth-century personal correspondence 111
- Preacher, scholar, brother, friend 135
- The social space of an eighteenth-century governess 163
- Building trust through (self-)appraisal in nineteenth-century business correspondence 191
- Good-natured fellows and poor mothers 211
- Name index 229
- Subject index 235
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Language practices in the construction of social roles in Late Modern English 1
- Mr Spectator, identity and social roles in an early eighteenth-century community of practice and the periodical discourse community 29
- How eighteenth-century book reviewers became language guardians 55
- “if You think me obstinate I can’t help it” 87
- Reporting and social role construction in eighteenth-century personal correspondence 111
- Preacher, scholar, brother, friend 135
- The social space of an eighteenth-century governess 163
- Building trust through (self-)appraisal in nineteenth-century business correspondence 191
- Good-natured fellows and poor mothers 211
- Name index 229
- Subject index 235
