Series |
Lexis Supplements
Edited book | Everyday Communication in Antiquity: Frames and Framings
Chapter | Connecting Intersubjectivity, Politeness and Stance with Wishes in the Post-Classical Greek Papyri
Connecting Intersubjectivity, Politeness and Stance with Wishes in the Post-Classical Greek Papyri
Abstract
The language of the papyri is rife with intersubjectively marked phraseology, i.e. phrases aimed at the epistemic or social self of the addressee(s). Yet, there are few linguistic investigations of intersubjective expressions in Greek papyri. In this contribution, I pave the way for the historical pragmatic analysis of intersubjectivity in the papyri by assessing the types of intersubjectivity that are encoded by wishes in different periods of the Post-Classical Greek papyri (III BCE-VI CE). Focusing on wishes expressed by wish optatives and by performatives, I demonstrate that wishes are one of the key linguistic means to perform so-called ‘stance taking’ in the papyri (i.e. positioning the self and others with respect to objects of communication) and may but need not encode intersubjective attention towards the addressee as part of polite and politic strategies.
Submitted: May 21, 2024 | Accepted: Sept. 11, 2024 | Published April 24, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Politeness • Performatives • Stance • Intersubjectivity • Wishes
Copyright © 2025 Ezra la Roi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-886-6/003
