1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Journal of Historical Pragmatics
  4. Volume 25, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 25, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1566-5852
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9854
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Democratization is often invoked as an explanatory factor for diachronic linguistic developments. We believe that at the root of democratization often lies the pragmatic negotiation of power relations, whereby a more democratic use of language can reduce the distance between addresser and addressee. This article examines the evolution of power relations in the editorials from 1860 to 1979 as represented in COHA. After a quantitative analysis of the evolution of three pragmatic variables that index democratization, the study offers a qualitative analysis with the aim of anchoring them to the situational context of newspaper editorials, especially regarding the power relations negotiated in this register over time. This paper also examines the impact of socio-historical events on the evolution of power relations and shows that they are intimately linked.

© 2024 John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
2024-08-09
2025-06-15

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bell, Allan
    1991 The Language of News Media. Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Biber, Douglas
    1988 Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511621024
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621024 [Google Scholar]
  3. 2012 “Register as a Predictor of Linguistic Variation.” Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory8 (1): 9–37. 10.1515/cllt‑2012‑0002
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2012-0002 [Google Scholar]
  4. 2019 “Text-Linguistic Approaches to Register Variation.” Register Studies1 (1): 42–75. 10.1075/rs.18007.bib
     https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.18007.bib [Google Scholar]
  5. Biber, Douglas, and Susan Conrad
    2009 Register, Genre and Style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511814358
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511814358 [Google Scholar]
  6. Biber, Douglas, and Bethany Gray
    2012 “The Competing Demands of Popularization vs. Economy: Written Language in the Age of Mass Literacy.” InThe Oxford Handbook of the History of English, ed. byTerttu Nevalainen, and Elizabeth Closs Traugott, 314–328. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199922765.013.0028
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199922765.013.0028 [Google Scholar]
  7. Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan
    1999 The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia
    Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “The New York Times.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed11 March, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-New-York-Times
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson
    1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813085
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085 [Google Scholar]
  10. Buschfeld, Sarah, and Alexander Kautzch
    2020 Modelling World Englishes: A Joint Approach to Postcolonial and Non-Postcolonial Varieties. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Collins, Peter
    2009 “Modals and Quasi-Modals in World Englishes.” World Englishes28 (3): 281–292. 10.1111/j.1467‑971X.2009.01593.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2009.01593.x [Google Scholar]
  12. 2013 “Grammatical Colloquialism and the English Quasi-Modals: A Comparative Study.” InEnglish Modality. Core, Periphery and Evidentiality, ed. byJuana I. Marín-Arrese, Marta Carretero, Jorge Arús Hita, and Johan van der Auwera, 155–169. Berlin: De Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110286328.155
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110286328.155 [Google Scholar]
  13. Collins, Peter, and Xinyue Yao
    2013 “Colloquial Features in World Englishes.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics18 (4): 479–505. 10.1075/ijcl.18.4.02col
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.18.4.02col [Google Scholar]
  14. Dollinger, Stefan
    2008 New-Dialect Formation in Canada: Evidence from the English Modal Auxiliaries. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/slcs.97
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.97 [Google Scholar]
  15. Fairclough, Norman
    1992 Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. 2003 Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Farrelly, Michael, and Elena Seoane
    2012 “Democratization.” InThe Oxford Handbook of the History of English, ed. byTerttu Nevalainen, and Elizabeth Closs Traugott, 392–401. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199922765.013.0033
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199922765.013.0033 [Google Scholar]
  18. Grafmiller, Jason
    2014 “Variation in English Genitives across Modality and Genres.” English Language and Linguistics18 (3): 471–496. 10.1017/S1360674314000136
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674314000136 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gray, Bethany
    2015 Linguistic Variation in Research Articles: When Discipline Tells Only Part of the Story. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/scl.71
     https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.71 [Google Scholar]
  20. Hagopian, Patrick
    2009 The Vietnam War in American Memory. Veterans, Memorials and the Politics of Healing. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Hallin, Daniel C.
    1984 “The Media, the War in Vietnam, and Political Support: A Critique of the Thesis of an Oppositional Media.” The Journal of Politics46 (1): 2–24. 10.2307/2130432
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2130432 [Google Scholar]
  22. Hiltunen, Turo, and Lucía Loureiro-Porto
    2020a “Democratization of Englishes: Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches.” Language Sciences791 (May). 10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101275
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101275 [Google Scholar]
  23. (eds) 2020b New Perspectives on Democratization: Evidence from English(es). Special issue ofLanguage Sciences791 (May).
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Hundt, Marianne, and Christian Mair
    1999 ““Agile” and “Uptight” Genres: The Corpus-Based Approach to Language Change in Progress.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics4 (2): 221–242. 10.1075/ijcl.4.2.02hun
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.4.2.02hun [Google Scholar]
  25. Hyland, Ken
    2015 “Genre, Discipline and Identity.” English for Academic Purposes191: 32–43. 10.1016/j.jeap.2015.02.005
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.02.005 [Google Scholar]
  26. Irvine, Judith T.
    2001 ““Style” as Distinctiveness: The Culture and Ideology of Linguistic Differentiation.” InStyle and Sociolinguistic Variation, ed. byPenelope Eckert, and John R. Rickford, 21–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Jucker, Andreas H., and Irma Taavitsainen
    2012 “Pragmatic Variables.” InThe Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics, ed. byJuan M. Hernández-Campoy, and Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre, 293–306. Oxford: Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118257227.ch16
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118257227.ch16 [Google Scholar]
  28. 2014 “Diachronic Corpus Pragmatics: Intersections and Interactions.” InDiachronic Corpus Pragmatics, ed. byIrma Taavitsainen, Andreas H. Jucker, and Jukka Tuominen, 3–26. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.243.03juc
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.243.03juc [Google Scholar]
  29. Landert, Daniela
    2014 Personalization in Mass Media Communication: British Online News Between Public and Private. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.240
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.240 [Google Scholar]
  30. Leech, Geoffrey
    2003 “Modality on the Move: The English Modal Auxiliaries 1961–1992.” InModality in Contemporary English, ed. byRoberta Facchinetti, Manfred Krug, and Frank Palmer, 223–240. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110895339.223
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110895339.223 [Google Scholar]
  31. 2004 “Recent Grammatical Change in English: Data, Description, Theory.” InAdvances in Corpus Linguistics: Papers from the 23rd International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 23), Göteborg 22–26 May 2002, ed. byKarin Aijmer, and Bengt Altenberg, 61–81. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 10.1163/9789004333710_005
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004333710_005 [Google Scholar]
  32. 2011 “The Modals ARE Declining.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics16 (4): 547–64. 10.1075/ijcl.16.4.05lee
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.16.4.05lee [Google Scholar]
  33. 2013 “Where Have All the Modals Gone? An Essay on the Declining Frequency of Core Modal Auxiliaries in Recent Standard English.” InEnglish Modality: Core, Periphery and Evidentiality, ed. byJuana I. Marín Arrese, Marta Carretero, Jorge Arús Hita, and Johan van der Auwera, 95–115. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. 10.1515/9783110286328.95
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110286328.95 [Google Scholar]
  34. Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith
    2009 Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511642210
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511642210 [Google Scholar]
  35. Lefkowitz, Julia
    2016 “‘Tabloidization’ or Dual-Convergence: Quoted Speech in Tabloid and ‘Quality’ British Newspapers 1970–2010.” Journalism Studies19 (3): 353–375. 10.1080/1461670X.2016.1190662
     https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1190662 [Google Scholar]
  36. Loureiro-Porto, Lucía
    2020 “Singular they in Asian Englishes: A Case of Linguistic Democratization?” InCrossing Linguistic Boundaries: Systemic, Synchronic and Diachronic Variation in English, ed. byPaloma Núñez-Pertejo, María José López-Couso, Belén Méndez-Naya, and Javier Pérez-Guerra, 187–209. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 10.5040/9781350053885.ch‑009
     https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350053885.ch-009 [Google Scholar]
  37. 2021a “Linguistic Colloquialisation, Democratisation and Gender in Asian Englishes.” InGender in World Englishes, ed. byTobias Bernaisch, 176–204. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. 2021b “Linguistic Democratization in HKE across Registers: The Effects of Prescriptivism.” Research in Corpus Linguistics9 (2): 64–89. 10.32714/ricl.09.02.04
     https://doi.org/10.32714/ricl.09.02.04 [Google Scholar]
  39. Loureiro-Porto, Lucía, and Turo Hiltunen
    2020a “Democratization and Gender-Neutrality in English(es).” Journal of English Linguistics48 (3): 215–232. 10.1177/0075424220935967
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424220935967 [Google Scholar]
  40. (eds) 2020b Democratization and Gender-neutrality in English(es). Special issue ofJournal of English Linguistics48 (3).
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Mair, Christian
    1997 “Parallel Corpora: A Real-Time Approach to the Study of Language Change in Progress.” InCorpus-Based Studies in English, ed. byMagnus Ljung, 195–209. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 10.1163/9789004653641_015
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004653641_015 [Google Scholar]
  42. 2006 Twentieth-Century English: History, Variation, and Standardization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511486951
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486951 [Google Scholar]
  43. 2013 The World System of Englishes: Accounting for the Transnational Importance of Mobile and Mediated Vernaculars. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. 2015 “Cross-Variety Diachronic Drifts and Ephemeral Regional Contrasts: An Analysis of Modality in the Extended Brown Family of Corpora and What It Can Tell Us About the New Englishes.” InGrammatical Change in English World-Wide, ed. byPeter Collins, 119–146. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/scl.67.06mai
     https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.67.06mai [Google Scholar]
  45. Mair, Christian, and Geoffrey Leech
    2006 “Current Change in English Syntax”. InThe Handbook of English Linguistics, ed. byBas Aarts, and April McMahon, 318–342. Oxford: Blackwell. 10.1002/9780470753002.ch14
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470753002.ch14 [Google Scholar]
  46. Millar, Neil
    2009 “Modal Verbs in TIME: Frequency Changes 1923–2006.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics14 (2): 191–220. 10.1075/ijcl.14.2.03mil
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.14.2.03mil [Google Scholar]
  47. Myhill, John
    1995 “Change and Continuity in the Functions of the American English Modals.” Linguistics33 (2): 157–211. 10.1515/ling.1995.33.2.157
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1995.33.2.157 [Google Scholar]
  48. Office of the Historian
    Office of the Historian. n.d. “The Neutrality Acts, 1930s.” Accessed19 November 2021. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts
  49. Perlman, Merrill
    2018 “The History of The New York Times Stylebook.” Columbia Journalism Reports. Accessed11 March, 2023. https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/new-york-times-stylebook.php
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Priestley, Jamie
    2013 “A Paradoxical Approach to Crisis.” InDiscourse and Crisis. Critical Perspectives, ed. byAntoon De Rycker and Zuraidah Mohd Don, 465–475. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/dapsac.52.15pri
     https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.52.15pri [Google Scholar]
  51. Reuters
    Reuters 2019 Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019. Accessed11 March, 2023. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-06/DNR_2019_FINAL_0.pdf
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Röthlisberger, Melanie, Jason Grafmiller, and Benedikt Szmrecsanyi
    2017 “Cognitive Indigenization Effects in the English Dative Alternation.” Cognitive Linguistics28 (4): 673–710. 10.1515/cog‑2016‑0051
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2016-0051 [Google Scholar]
  53. Schneider, Edgar W.
    2007 Postcolonial English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511618901
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618901 [Google Scholar]
  54. Schneider, Klaus P., and Anne Barron
    2008 “Where Pragmatics and Dialectology Meet: Introducing Variational Pragmatics.” InVariational Pragmatics: A Focus on Regional Varieties in Pluricentric Languages, ed. byKlaus P. Schneider and Anne Barron, 1–32. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.178.02sch
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.178.02sch [Google Scholar]
  55. Schudson, Michael
    2001 “The Objectivity Norm in American Journalism.” Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism2 (2): 149–170. 10.1177/146488490100200201
     https://doi.org/10.1177/146488490100200201 [Google Scholar]
  56. Seoane, Elena
    2006 “Changing Styles: On the Recent Evolution of Scientific British and American English.” InSyntax, Style and Grammatical Norms: English from 1500–2000, ed. byChristiane Dalton-Puffer, Dieter Kastovsky, and Nikolaus Ritt, 191–211. Bern: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. 2009 “Syntactic Complexity, Discourse Status and Animacy as Determinants of Grammatical Variation in Modern English.” English Language and Linguistics13 (3): 365–384. 10.1017/S1360674309990153
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674309990153 [Google Scholar]
  58. Seoane, Elena, and Marianne Hundt
    2017 “Voice Alternation and Authorial Presence: Variation across Disciplinary Areas in Academic English.” Journal of English Linguistics46 (1): 3–22. 10.1177/0075424217740938
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424217740938 [Google Scholar]
  59. Seoane, Elena, and Lucía Loureiro-Porto
    2005 “On the Colloquialization of Scientific British and American English.” ESP Across Cultures21: 106–118.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Staples, Shelley
    2015 “Spoken Discourse.” InThe Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics, ed. byDouglas Biber and Randi Reppen, 271–291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139764377.016
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139764377.016 [Google Scholar]
  61. Taavitsainen, Irma, and Andreas H. Jucker
    2010 “Expressive Speech Acts and Politeness in Eighteenth-Century English.” InEighteenth-Century English: Ideology and Change, ed. byRaymond Hickey, 159–181. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511781643.010
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781643.010 [Google Scholar]
  62. The White House
    The White House 2006 “Woodrow Wilson.” Accessed19 November, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/woodrow-wilson/
  63. Westin, Ingrid
    2002 Language Change in English Newspaper Editorials. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi. 10.1163/9789004334007
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004334007 [Google Scholar]
  64. White, Peter R. R.
    2012 “Exploring the Axiological Workings of ‘Reporter Voice’ News Stories – Attribution and Attitudinal Positioning.” Discourse, Context & Media1 (2–3): 57–67. 10.1016/j.dcm.2012.10.004
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2012.10.004 [Google Scholar]
  65. Wicker, Tom
    1978 On Press. A Top Reporter’s Life in, and Reflections on, American Journalism. New York: Viking.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes
    2006 American English: Dialects and Variation. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Davies, Mark
    2010 The Corpus of Historical American English (COHA). Available online athttps://www.english-corpora.org/coha/
/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
Loading
A diachronic corpus-pragmatic approach to democratization
Journal of Historical Pragmatics 25, 215 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00074.seo
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): (semi)modals; contractions; democratization; passives; power relations; pragmatic variables

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error