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Chapter 3. Politeness and evaluative adjectives in Italian turn-of-the-century etiquette books (1877–1914)

Abstract

This study examines evaluative adjectives and politeness evaluators in 9 popular etiquette books published in turn-of-the-century Italy between 1877–1914, with the aim to determine the values that are involved in the judgement of behaviour. Using Appraisal Theory (Martin & White 2005), I group positive evaluative adjectives in the following semantic sets: Normality, Capacity, Tenacity, Veracity and Politeness. Politeness comprises the subsets Conformity, Affection, Goodness and Pleasure. The paper establishes diversity and frequencies within the various lexical sets, which are used to design a conceptual map. The map shows the dominating ideological weight of etiquette and its core values of Normality and Conformity, which point towards intensely regulated behaviour in a large number of contexts.

Abstract

This study examines evaluative adjectives and politeness evaluators in 9 popular etiquette books published in turn-of-the-century Italy between 1877–1914, with the aim to determine the values that are involved in the judgement of behaviour. Using Appraisal Theory (Martin & White 2005), I group positive evaluative adjectives in the following semantic sets: Normality, Capacity, Tenacity, Veracity and Politeness. Politeness comprises the subsets Conformity, Affection, Goodness and Pleasure. The paper establishes diversity and frequencies within the various lexical sets, which are used to design a conceptual map. The map shows the dominating ideological weight of etiquette and its core values of Normality and Conformity, which point towards intensely regulated behaviour in a large number of contexts.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Politeness in nineteenth-century Europe, a research agenda 1
  5. Part I. Politeness metadiscourse
  6. Chapter 1. Address forms in grammars and textbooks of West and South Slavic languages in the eighteenth and nineteenth century 39
  7. Chapter 2. The Nuovo Galateo (‘New Galateo’, 1802) by Melchiorre Gioja, politeness ( pulitezza ) and reason 75
  8. Chapter 3. Politeness and evaluative adjectives in Italian turn-of-the-century etiquette books (1877–1914) 107
  9. Part II. Politeness usage
  10. Chapter 4. Commitment fulfillment and politeness 147
  11. Chapter 5. Promoting negative politeness in nineteenth-century England 171
  12. Chapter 6. “With kindest regards” 197
  13. Index 219
Politeness in Nineteenth-Century Europe
This chapter is in the book Politeness in Nineteenth-Century Europe
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.299.04pat

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Politeness in nineteenth-century Europe, a research agenda 1
  5. Part I. Politeness metadiscourse
  6. Chapter 1. Address forms in grammars and textbooks of West and South Slavic languages in the eighteenth and nineteenth century 39
  7. Chapter 2. The Nuovo Galateo (‘New Galateo’, 1802) by Melchiorre Gioja, politeness ( pulitezza ) and reason 75
  8. Chapter 3. Politeness and evaluative adjectives in Italian turn-of-the-century etiquette books (1877–1914) 107
  9. Part II. Politeness usage
  10. Chapter 4. Commitment fulfillment and politeness 147
  11. Chapter 5. Promoting negative politeness in nineteenth-century England 171
  12. Chapter 6. “With kindest regards” 197
  13. Index 219
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