Impoliteness in women’s specialised writing in seventeenth-century English
The notion of impoliteness may not trigger prompt associations with earlier women writing, especially non-fiction, in the pre-scientific period. Evidence drawn from seventeenth-century scientific and technical writings reveals that women make use of impoliteness strategies in order to claim and delineate their place within their community of practice. In our texts, we have detected that membership to communities of practice justifies the women’s use of positive impoliteness and sarcasm devices. Interestingly, the stereotypical female weakness represents a source for sarcastic speech, as this may offer women writers a protective shield against male critical stance. Negative impoliteness seems to be potentially related to establish power relationships and position in relation to knowledge. The idea is that scientific and technical contributions should be impartially appraised without considering the sex of the author. Impoliteness appears to be a potential means of legitimising women writers’ voices.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Impoliteness
- 3.Method and corpus
- 3.1Culpeper’s categories of impoliteness super-strategies and output strategies
- 4.Impoliteness strategies
- 4.1Positive impoliteness
- 4.1.1Dissociate from the other
- 4.1.2Seek disagreement
- 4.1.3Be disinterested, unconcerned, unsympathetic
- 4.2Negative impoliteness
- 4.2.1Condescend, scorn or ridicule, emphasise your relative power
- 4.2.2Invade the other’s space – literally or metaphorically
- 4.2.3Explicitly associate the other with a negative aspect
- 4.2.4Avoidance of mitigating effects in stancetaking
- 4.3Sarcasm
- 4.4Impoliteness strategies: Quantitative analysis
- 5.Conclusion
-
References
References (77)
References
Primary sources
Boursier, Louise Bourgeois. 1663. The Compleat Midwife’s Practice Enlarged in the Most Weighty and High Concernments of the Birth of Man. [London]: Printed for Nath. Brook at the Angel in Corn-hill.
Chudleigh Lady, Mary Lee. 1687. The female advocate; or, A plea for the just liberty of the tender sex, and particularly of married women. Being reflections on a late rude and disingenuous discourse, delivered by Mr. John Sprint, in a sermon at a wedding, May 11th, at Sherburn in Dorsetshire, 1699. / By a Lady of Quality. (Early English Books Online). London: Printed for Andrew Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil, near Stockmarket.
Cockeram, Henry. 1623. The English Dictionarie: Or, An Interpreter of Hard English Words. Enabling as well Ladies and Gentlewomen, Young Schollers, Clarkes, Merchants, as Also Strangers of Any Nation, to the Vnderstanding of the More Difficult Authors already printed in Our Language, and the More Speedy Attaining of an Elegant Perfection of the English Tongue, both in Reading, Speaking and Writing. London: Printed for Edmund Weauer.
Evelyn, Mary. 1690. Mundus muliebris: or, The ladies dressing-room unlock’d, and her toilette spread In burlesque. Together with the fop-dictionary, compiled for the use of the fair sex. (Ed.) John Evelyn. London: printed for R. Bentley, in Russel-Street in Covent-Garden.
Jocelin, Elizabeth. 1635. The mothers legacie to her unborne childe by Elizabeth Joceline. (Ed.) Thomas Goad. London: Printed by F.K. for Robert Allot, and are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Black Beare.
Kent Countess of, Elizabeth Grey. 1653. A choice manval of rare and select secrets in physick and chyrurgery; collected and practised by the Right Honorable, the Countesse of Kent late deceased. As also most exquisite ways of preserving, conserving, candying, &c. Published by W.J., Gent. (Ed.) W J. London: Printed by R. Norton.
Lady. 1696. The whole duty of a woman: or a guide to the female sex From the age of sixteen to sixty, &c. Being directions, how women of all qualities and conditions, ought to behave themselves in the various circumstances of this life, for their obtaining not only present, but future happiness. I. Directions how to obtain the divine and moral virtues of piety, meekness, modesty, chastity, humility, compassion, temperance and affability, with their advantages, and how to avoyd the opposite vices. II. The duty of virgins, directing them what they ought to do, and what to avoyd, for gaining all the accomplishments required in that state. With the whole art of love, &c. 3. The whole duty of a wife, 4. The whole duty of a widow, &c. Also choice receipts in physick and chirurgery. With the whole art of cookery, preserving, candying, beautifying, &c. Written by a lady. London: printed for J. Gwillim, against the Great James Tavern in Bishopsgate-street.
Lincoln Countess of., Elizabeth Clinton. 1622. The Countesse of Lincolnes nurserie (Ed.) Thomas Lodge. At Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield, and Iames Short printers to the famous Vniversitie.
Newcastle Duchess of, Margaret Cavendish. 1663. Philosophical and physical opinions written by … the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. (Ed.) William Cavendish Newcastle Duke of. London: Printed by William Wilson.
Newcastle Duchess of, Margaret Cavendish. 1663. Philosophical and Physical Opinions Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. London: Printed by William Wilson.
Newcastle Duchess of, Margaret Cavendish. 1664. Philosophical letters, or, Modest reflections upon some opinions in natural philosophy maintained by several famous and learned authors of this age, expressed by way of letters / by the thrice noble, illustrious, and excellent princess the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. London: [s.n.].
Newcastle Duchess of, Margaret Cavendish. 1668a. Observations upon experimental philosophy to which is added, The description of a new blazing world / written by … Princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle. London: Printed by A. Maxwell.
Newcastle Duchess of, Margaret Cavendish. 1668b. Ground of natural philosophy divided into thirteen parts: with an appendix containing five parts / written by the … Dvchess of Newcastle. London: Printed by A. Maxwell.
Owen of God-stow., Jane. 1634. Antidote against purgatory. Or discourse, wherein is shewed that good-workes, and almes-deeds, performed in the name of Christ, are a chiefe meanes for the preuenting, or migatating the torments of purgatory. Written by that vertuous, and rightworthy gentle-woman (the honour of her sexe for learning in England) Ms. Iane Owen, late of God-stow, in Oxfordshire, deceased, and now published after her death. [Saint-Omer: English College Press], Printed M.DC.XXXIIII. [1634].
Russell Lady, Elizabeth Cooke Hoby. 1605. A way of reconciliation of a good and learned man touching the trueth, nature, and substance of the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament. Translated out of Latin by the right honorable Lady Elizabeth Russell, dowager to the right honourable the Lord Iohn Russell, Baron, and sonne and heire to Francis Earle of Bedford. At London: Printed by R. B[arker].
Sharp Mrs., Jane. 1671. The midwives book, or, The whole art of midwifry discovered. Directing childbearing women how to behave themselves in their conception, breeding, bearing, and nursing of children in six books, viz. … / By Mrs. Jane Sharp practitioner in the art of midwifry above thirty years. London: Printed for Simon Miller, at the Star at the West End of St. Pauls.
Stubbe, Henry. 1670. Campanella Revived, or an Enquiry into the History of the Royal Society, whether the Virtuosi There Do not Pursue the Projects of Campanella for Reducing England unto Popery. London: Printed for the Author.
Woolley, Hannah. 1662. The ladies directory in choice experiments & curiosities of preserving in jellies, and candying both fruits & flowers. Also, an excellent way of making cakes, comfits, and rich court-perfumes. With rarities of many precious waters; among which, are Doctor Stephens’s water, Dr. Matthias’s palsie-water; and an excellent water against the plague: with severall consumption drinks, approved by the ablest physicians. / By Hanna Wolley … London: Printed by T.M. for Peter Dring, at the Sun, next dore to the Rose Taverne in the Poultry.
Woolley, Hannah. 1664. The cook’s guide: or, Rare receipts for cookery Published and set forth particularly for ladies and gentlwomen; being very beneficial for all those that desire the true way of dressing of all sorts of flesh, fowles, and fish; the best directions for all manner of kickshaws, and the most ho-good sawces: whereby noble persons and others in their hospitalities may be gratified in their gusto’s. Never before printed. By Hannah Wolley. London: [p]rinted for Peter Dring at the Sun in the Poultry, next door to the Rose-Tavern.
Woolley, Hannah. 1673. The gentlewomans companion; or, A guide to the female sex containing directions of behaviour, in all places, companies, relations, and conditions, from their childhood down to old age: viz. As, children to parents. Scholars to governours. Single to servants. Virgins to suitors. Married to husbands. Huswifes to the house Mistresses to servants. Mothers to children. Widows to the world Prudent to all. With letters and discourses upon all occasions. Whereunto is added, a guide for cook-maids, dairy-maids, chamber-maids, and all others that go to service. The whole being an exact rule for the female sex in general. By Hannah Woolley. (Ed.) William Faithorne. London: printed by A. Maxwell for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry.
Woolley, Hannah. 1686. The Accomplish’d ladies delight in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cookery. Containing I. The art of preserving, and candying fruits and flowers, and the making of all sorts of conserves, syrups, and jellies. II. The physical cabinet, or excellent re[c]eipts in physick and chirurgery, together with s[o]me rare beautifying waters, to adorn and add l[ov]eliness to the face and body: and also some n[e]w and excellent secrets and experiments in the art of angling. III. The compl[e]at cook’s guide, or, directions fo[r] dressing all sorts of flesh, fowl and fish […] English and French mode, […]; and the making pyes, […] with the forms and […] (Ed.) T P. S.l.: Printed for Sarah Harris.
Secondary sources
Archer, Dawn E. 2008. “Verbal Aggression and Impoliteness: Related or Synonymous?” In Derek Bousfield and Miriam A. Locher (eds), Impoliteness in Language: Studies on Its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, 181–207. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Babaii, Esmat. 2011. “Hard Science, Hard Talk? The Study of Negative Comments in Physics Book Reviews”. In Françoise Salager-Mayer and Beverly A. Lewin (eds), Crossed Words: Criticism in Scholarly Writing, 55–77. Switzerland: Peter Lang.
Blas Arroyo, José Luis. 2001. “‘No Digachorradas…’ La Descortesía En El Debate Político Cara a Cara. Una Aproximación Pragma-Variacionista” [‘“Don’t talk rubbish…” Impoliteness in Face-to-Face Political Debate: A Pragmatic–Variationist Approach’]. Oralia 41: 9–45.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Brown, Roger and Albert Gilman. 1989. “Politeness Theory and Shakespeare’s Four Major Tragedies”. Language in Society 18 (2): 159–212. 

Csulich, Gabriela. 2016. “(Im)Politeness, Social Status, and Roles in the Early Modern English Courtroom: Your Lordship and Traitor in High Treason and Ordinary Criminal Trials”. In Minna Nevala, Ursula Lutzky, Gabriella Mazzon and Carla Suhr (eds), The Pragmatics and Stylistics of Identity Construction and Characterisation. (Volume 171.) Helsinki: VARIENG Research Unit. Available online at: [URL]
Culpeper, Jonathan. 1996. “Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness”. Journal of Pragmatics 25 (3): 349–367. 

Culpeper, Jonathan. 2005. “Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The Weakest Link
”. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture 1 (1): 35–72. 

Culpeper, Jonathan. 2008. “Reflections on Impoliteness, Relational Work and Power”. In Derek Bousfield and Miriam A. Locher (eds), Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, 17–44. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 

Culpeper, Jonathan. 2009. “The Metalanguage of Impoliteness: Using Sketch Engine to Explore the Oxford English Corpus”. In Paul Baker (ed.), Contemporary Corpus Linguistics, 65–86. London and New York: Continuum.
Culpeper, Jonathan. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Culpeper, Jonathan. 2016a. “Impoliteness Strategies”. In Alessandro Capone, Franco Lo Piparo and Marco Carpezza (eds), Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy and Psychology, 421–445. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 

Culpeper, Jonathan. 2016b. “Impoliteness Strategies”. In Alessandro Capone and Jacob L. Mey (eds), Interdisciplinary Studies in Pragmatics, Culture and Society, 421–445. London: Springer. 

Culpeper, Jonathan, Derek Bousfield and Anne Wichmann. 2003. “Impoliteness Revisited: With Special Reference to Dynamic and Prosodic Aspects”. Journal of Pragmatics 35 (10–11): 1545–1579. 

Eales, Jacqueline. 1998. Women in Early Modern England, 1500–1700. London: University College London Press.
Eckerle, Julie A. 2007. “Prefacing Texts, Authorizing Authors, and Constructing Selves: The Prefaces as Autobiographical Space”. In Michelle M. Dowd and Julie A. Eckerle (eds), Genre and Women’s Life Writing in Early Modern England, 97–113. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate.
Eckert, Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet. 1999. “New Generalizations and Explanations in Language and Gender Research”. Language in Society 28 (2): 185–201. 

Elk, Martine van. 2017. Early Modern Women’s Writing. Domesticity, Privacy, and the Public Sphere in England and the Dutch Republic. Amsterdam: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Evenden, Doreen. 2000. The Midwives of Seventeenth Century London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gallois, Cynthia. 1994. “Group Membership, Social Rules, and Power: A Social-Psychological Perspective on Emotional Communication”. Journal of Pragmatics 22 (3–4): 301–324. 

Gil-Salom, Luz and Carmen Soler-Monreal. 2009. “Interacting with the Reader: Politeness Strategies in Engineering Research Article Discussions”. International Journal of English Studies 9 (3): 175–189. 

Golinski, Jan. 2002. “The Care of the Self and the Masculine Birth of Science”. History of Science 40 (2): 125–145. 

Gray, Catherine. 2007. Women Writers and Public Debate in 17th-Century Britain. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. 

Heyd, Michael. 1995. “BE SOBER AND REASONABLE” The Critique of Enthusiasm in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries. Leiden, New York and Köln: Brill. 

Hyland, Ken. 2005. “Prudence, Precision, and Politeness: Hedges in Academic Writing”. Quaderns de Filologia. Estudis Lingüístics 101 (2005): 99–112.
Jacob, James R. 1983. Henry Stubbe, Radical Protestantism and the Early Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Jucker, Andreas H. 2000. “‘Thou’ in the History of English: A Case for Historical Semantics or Pragmatics?” In Christiane Dalton-Puffer and Nikolaus Ritt (eds), Words: Structure, Meaning, Function. Festschrift for Dieter Kastovsky, 153–163. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 

Jucker, Andreas H. and Irma Taavitsainen. 2013. English Historical Pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Kádár, Dániel Z. and Jonathan Culpeper. 2010. “Historical (Im)Politeness: An Introduction”. In Jonathan Culpeper and Dániel Z. Kádár (eds), Historical (Im)Politeness, 9–36. Bern, Berlin and New York: Peter Lang.
Khosravi, Mohadese. 2015. “A Pragmatic Analysis of Impoliteness in Reply Articles as an Instance of Academic Conflict”. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research 2 (3): 223–231.
Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and Woman’s Place: Text and Commentaries. New York: Harper and Row.
Lancashire, Ian. 2009. “The Two Tongues of Early Modern English”. In Christopher M. Cain and Geoffrey Russom (eds), Studies in the History of the English Language III: Managing Chaos: Strategies for Identifying Change in English, 105–141. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Lave, Jean and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Leaper, Campbell and Rachael D. Robnett. 2010. “Women Are More Likely than Men to Use Tentative Language, Aren’t They? A Meta-Analysis Testing for Gender Differences and Moderators”. Psychology of Women Quarterly 35 (1): 129–142. 

Leech, Geoffrey. 2014. The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Marín-Arrese, Juana. 2009. “Effective vs. Epistemic Stance, and Subjectivity/Intersubjectivity in Political Discourse: A Case Study”. In Anastasios Tsangalidis and Roberta Facchinetti (eds), Studies on English modality: In honour of Frank R. Palmer, 35–52. Bern and New York: Peter Lang.
Martilla, Ville. 2014. “New Arguments for New Audiences: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Interpersonal Strategies in Early Modern English Medical Recipes”. In Irma Taavitsainen, Irma and Päivi Pahta (eds), Medical Writing in Early Modern English, 135–157. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mills, Sara. 2003. Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Mills, Sara. 2005. “Gender and Impoliteness”. Journal of Politeness Research 1 (2): 263–280. 

Mills, Sara. 2009. “Impoliteness in a Cultural Context”. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (5): 1047–1060. 

Myers, Greg. 1989. “The Pragmatics of Politeness in Scientific Articles”. Applied Linguistics 10 (1): 1–35. 

Ostovich, Helen and Elizabeth Sauer. 2004a. “Introduction. Rereading Women’s Literary History”. In Helen Ostovich and Elizabeth Sauer (eds), Reading Early Modern Women: An Anthology of Texts in Manuscript and Print, 1500–1700, 1–13. New York and London: Routledge. 

Ostovich, Helen and Elizabeth Sauer (eds). 2004b. Reading Early Modern Women: An Anthology of Texts in Manuscript and Print, 1500–1700. New York and London: Routledge. 

Peters, Christine. 2004. Women in Early Modern Britain, 1450–1640. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Taavitsainen, Irma. 2014. “Dissemination and Appropriation of Medical Knowledge: Humoral Theory in Early Modern English Medical Writing and Lay Texts”. In Irma Taavitsainen and Päivi Pahta (eds), Medical Writing in Early Modern English, 94–114. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Trye, Mary. 1675. Medicatrix, or, The Woman-Physician. London: Printed by T.R. & N.T., and sold by Henry Broome and John Leete.
Whaley, Leigh. 2011. Women and the Practice of Medical Care in Early Modern Europe, 1400–1800. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Quintana Toledo, Elena
2024.
The approximators about, at least and nearly as interpersonal devices in nineteenth-century women’s instructive texts.
Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas 19
► pp. 164 ff.

Álvarez-Gil, Francisco J. & Elena Quintana-Toledo
2024.
Boosters in academic discourse: contrastive analysis concerning their use in theses from the fields of social sciences and natural sciences.
Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación 100
► pp. 223 ff.

Whitt, Richard J.
2023.
Satire in Eighteenth-Century Medical Discourse: Elizabeth Nihell, Tobias Smollett and the Advent of Man-Midwifery.
English Studies 104:8
► pp. 1363 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.