1887
Volume 25, Issue 3
  • ISSN 1566-5852
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9854
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Abstract

Abstract

This study applies House’s (1996, 2005) dimensions of cross-cultural differences as a diagnostic tool to investigate regional variation regarding two pragmalinguistic requestive patterns with in Scottish and English non-private letters (1500 to 1700). The dimensional scheme proves a useful tool for explaining similarities and differences in the requestive behaviour in the two varieties. It is shown that, in the sixteenth century, grounders with are part of a set of downgrading devices employed by letter-writers to counteract the directness and self-orientation particularly of performative requests in both the Scottish and the English correspondence. Moreover, the dimensional analysis explicates the cross-varietal differences regarding in the seventeenth century correspondence by linking the rise of mitigating in performative requests in the Scottish letters to the increased self-orientation towards the letter-writer, which is not counter-balanced by other downgraders.

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2023-09-07
2025-02-10
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