Article published In:
Journal of Historical Pragmatics: Online-First ArticlesNegotiating converso identities in the inquisition courtroom
Impoliteness and self-politeness in the 1568–1569 trial of Catarina de Orta
This paper explores the processes of identity construction and negotiation through face work in a Portuguese
Inquisition record, corresponding to the trial for Judaism of Catarina de Orta. Concentrating as much on the inquisitor’s
questions as on the answers offered by the defendant, I show here that impoliteness and self-politeness co-occur in interaction in
the Portuguese Inquisition courtroom discourse. On the one hand, the inquisitor makes abundant use of impoliteness strategies with
at least three main aims: to exert his power over the defendant, to trigger specific negative emotions, and to attack her face and
her credibility. On the other hand, the defendant’s answers display numerous features of self-politeness, aimed at saving her face
from the inquisitor’s attacks and accusations. It is precisely through the interplay of impoliteness and self-politeness that the
two competing narratives proposed by the accuser and the defendant are constructed and re-elaborated during every
interrogation.
Keywords: courtroom discourse, emotional effects, face, identity, impoliteness, Portuguese Inquisition, self-politeness
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Face, identity and (im)politeness
- 3.The process against Catarina de Orta
- 4.Other-impoliteness strategies in the trial of Catarina de Orta
- 4.1Positive impoliteness
- 4.2Negative impoliteness
- 5.Self-politeness strategies in the trial of Catarina de Orta
- 5.1Baldly
- 5.2Redressive strategies
- 5.3Off-record strategies
- 5.4Withhold sftas
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 16 April 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.22011.dia
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.22011.dia
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