“A very big thank you to…”
Letters of gratitude in local newspapers from Australia and Chile
Letters to the Editor (LTEs) in the local press are a relatively formalised everyday genre in which readers’ opinions appear in a publication. In this article 20 Chilean and 20 Australian LTEs which contained the macro communicative intention of ‘thanking’ were analysed and compared with regard to the structural moves and Politeness Strategies (PS) they presented. The results show that addressers in both cultures follow a highly schematic way of constructing their Letters of Gratitude. This is evident not only in the sharing of most of their obligatory moves but also in that some of these moves present similar lexico-syntactic compositions to establish their limits. With regard to PS, the Chilean group showed the exclusive presence of strategies that acknowledged the role of the editor as a letter mediator directly. This suggests that the similarities found are genre-defining aspects. Conversely, the differences are connected to the cultural context of publication. The results also suggest that expressing gratitude in the written form may functionally differ from the way it is expressed orally. This type of contrastive study helps to identify both the genre- and culture specific aspects of discourse, which deepen our understanding of cultural, everyday manifestations and their realization in different settings.
References
Al-Ali, M.N
2005 “Communicating messages of solidarity, promotion and pride in death announcements genre in Jordanian newspapers”.
Discourse and Society 16(1):5–31.
Aldridge, J
1993 “The textual disembodiment of knowledge in research account writing”.
Sociology 27(1):53–66.
Alfonzetti, G
2004 “I complimenti in italiano: analisi delle riposte”. Presented at VIII Congresso SILFI: Lingua, cultura e intercultura: Italiano e le altre lingue, Copenhagen.
Álvarez Muro, A. and Carrera de la Red, M
2006.
“El usted de solidaridad en el habla de Mérida”. In
La cortesía en el mundo hispánico: nuevos contextos, nuevos enfoques metodológicos,
M. Schrader-Kniffki (ed). 117–130 Madrid: Vervuert - Iberoamericana.
Arndt, H. and Janney, R.W
1991 “Verbal, prosodic, and kinesic emotive contrasts in speech”.
Journal of Pragmatics 151:521–549.
Bhatia, V.K
1993 Analysing genre: language use in professional settings. Harlow, England: Longman.
Bhatia, V.K
1996 “ Methodological issues in genre analysis”.
HER 161:39–59.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., and Kasper, G
1989 Cross-cultural pragmatics: requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub. Corp.
Bravo, D. and Briz, A
2004 “Pragmática sociocultural: estudios sobre el discurso de cortesía en español”. Barcelona Ariel.
Bravo, D., Hernández Flores, N., and Cordisco, A
2009 “Aportes pragmáticos, sociopragmáticos y socioculturales a los estudios de la cortesía en español”. Estocolmo Buenos Aires: EDICE Editorial Dunken.
Brown, R. and Gilman, A
1960.
“The pronouns of power and solidarity”. In
Style in language,
T.A. Sebeok (ed). 253–276. Cambridge: Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Caffi, C. and Janney, R.W
1994 “Toward a pragmatics of emotive communication”.
Journal of Pragmatics 221:325–273.
Carlsson, Y
2003 “Cultural Encounters, Rhetorical Patterns and Social Strategies: First- and Second-Language Writers of Certain Genres of Letters in Swedish.” Uppsala Universitet, Sweden.
Carnet, D. and Magnet, A
2006 “Medical journals, letters to the editor”. 725–732 in
The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics,
K. Brown (ed). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Cordella, M., Large, H., and Pardo, V
1995 “Complimenting behavior in Australian English and Spanish speech”.
Multilingua 14(3):235–252.
Coulmas, F
1981a Conversational routine: explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech. The Hague/New York: Mouton.
Coulmas, F
1981b ““Poison to your soul” Thanks and apologies contrastively viewed”. In
Conversational routine: explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech,
F. Coulmas (ed). 69–91 The Hague/New York: Mouton.
Dickerhoof, R.M
2007 “Expressing optimism and gratitude: A longitudinal investigation of cognitive strategies to increase well-being.”, U. California, Riverside, US.
Drazdauskiene, M.-L
1981 “On stereotyping in conversation, their meaning and significance”. In
Conversational routine: explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech,
F. Coulmas (ed). 55–68 The Hague/New York: Mouton.
Eggins, S. and Martin, J.R
1997 “Genres and registers of discourse”. In
Discourse as structure and process. Discourse studies: a multidisciplinary introduction,
T.A. van Dijk (ed). 230–256 London: Sage.
Eisenstein, M. and Bodman, J.W
1986 “‘I very appreciate’: expressions of gratitude by native and non-native speakers of American English”.
Applied Linguistics 7(2):167–180.
Ericson, R.V., Baranek, P.M., and Chan, J.B.L
1989 Negotiating control: a study of news sources. Toronto/London: University of Toronto Press.
Escandell Vidal, M.V
1995 “Cortesía, fórmulas convencionales y estrategias indirectas”.
Revista Española de Lingüística 25(1):31–66.
Flowerdew, J. and Dudley-Evans, T
2002 “Genre analysis of editorial letters to Iinternational journal contributors”.
Applied Linguistics 23(4):463–489.
Fontanini, I
2001 “Aspects of ideology in letters to the editor”.
Acta Scientiarum 23(1):1–9.
Giannoni, D.S
2002 “Worlds of gratitude: a contrastive study of acknowledgement texts in English and Italian research articles”.
Applied Linguistics 23(1):1–31.
Gurel Kirgiz, O
2008 “Effects of gratitude on subjective well-being, self-construal, and memory.”, The American U.
Hage, G
2003 Against paranoid nationalism: searching for hope in a shrinking society. Annandale, Vic.: Pluto Press.
Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., and Roberts, B
1978 Policing the crisis: mugging, the state, and law and order. London: Macmillan Press.
Holmes, J
1986 “Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English”.
Anthropological Linguistics 28(4):485–508.
Holmes, J
1988 “Paying compliments: a sex-preferential politeness strategy”.
Journal of Pragmatics 121:445–465.
Hyland, K
2004 “Graduates gratitude: the generic structure of dissertation acknowledgements”.
English for Specific Purposes 231:303–324.
Hyland, K. and Tse, P
2004 I would like to thank my supervisor. Acknowledgements in graduate dissertations.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics 14(2):259–175.
Kerbrat-Orecchioni, C
2004 “Es universal la cortesia? “. In
Pragmatica sociocultural: estudios sobre el discurso de cortesia en espanol,
D. Bravo and
A. Briz (eds). 39–54 Barcelona: Ariel.
Kress, G
1986 “Language in the media: the construction of the domains of public and private”.
Media, Culture and Society 8(4):385–419.
Labov, W
1984 “Intensity”. In
Meaning, form, and use in context: Linguistic applications,
D. Schiffrin (ed). 43–70. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Lakoff, G
2010 “Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment”.
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture 4(1):70–81.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M
1999 Philosophy in the flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.
Landert, D. and Jucker, A.H
2011 “Private and public in mass media communication: From letters to the editor to online commentaries”.
Journal of Pragmatics 431:1422–1434.
Le Pair, R
1996 “Spanish request strategies: A cross-cultural analysis from an intercultural perspective”.
Language Sciences 181:651–670.
Mannes, J. and Wolfson, N
1981 “The compliment formula”. In
Conversational routine: explorations in standardized communication situations and prepatterned speech,
F. Coulmas (ed). 115–132. The Hague/New York: Mouton.
Márquez Reiter, R
1997 “Politeness phenomena in British English and Uruguayan Spanish: the case of requests”.
Miscelanea: A Journal of English and American Studies 181:159–167.
Martin, J.R
2000 “Beyond exchange: appraisal systems in English”. In
Evaluation in text: authorial stance and the construction of discourse,
G. Thompson and
S. Hunston (eds). 142–177 Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Maturana, H
1997 “Ontología del conversar”. In
La realidad: ¿objetiva o construida? Fundamentos biológicos de la realidad. 19–36. Barcelona: Anthropos editorial, Universidad Iberoamericana, Instituto Técnico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente.
Maturana, H
1999 Transformación en la convivencia. Dolmen Ediciones.
Maturana, H. and Varela, F.J
2002 El árbol del conocimiento: las bases biológicas del entendimiento humano. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria.
Mauranen, A
1993 Cultural diferences in academic rhetoric: a textlinguistic study. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
McNair, B
2000 Journalism and democracy: an evaluation of the political public sphere. London/New York: Routledge.
Monjour, A
2006 ““Pasad, pasad” - “Kommen Sie Bitte Rein”. Pedro Almodóvar, los actos de habla y la comparación intercultural”. In
La cortesía en el mundo hispánico: nuevos contextos, nuevos enfoques metodológicos,
M. Schrader-Kniffki (ed). 15–42 Madrid: Vervuert - Iberoamericana.
Montecino, S
1996 Madres y huachos: alegoría del mestizaje chileno. Santiago, Chile: Editorial Sudamericana.
Morrison, A. and Love, A
1996 “A discourse of disillusionment: Letters to the Editor in two Zimbabwean magazines 10 years after independence”.
Discourse and Society 7(1):39–75.
Müller, A.P
2006 “La cortesía conversacional: análisis secuenciales”. In
La cortesía en el mundo hispánico: nuevos contextos, nuevos enfoques metodológicos,
M. Schrader-Kniffki (ed). 157–182. Madrid: Vervuert - Iberoamericana.
Nwogu, K.N
1997 “The medical research paper: structure and functions”.
English for Specific Purposes 16(2):119–138.
Paltridge, B
1995 “Working with genre: a pragmatic perspective”.
Journal of Pragmatics 241:393–406.
Pounds, G
2006 “Democratic participation and Letters to the Editor in Britain and Italy”.
Discourse and Society 17(1):29–63.
Richardson, J.E
2001 “‘Now is the time to put an end to all this’: argumentative discourse theory and ‘letters to the editor’”.
Discourse and Society 12(2):143–168.
Rojas-Lizana, I
2009 Discourse and genre in everyday texts: Letters to the Editor in the local press of Australia and Chile. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller.
Rojas-Lizana, I
2011 “Justifying and condemning sexual discrimination in everyday discourse: Letters to the Editor in the Australian local press”.
Journal of Pragmatics 431:663–676.
Sharifian, F
2003 “On cultural conceptualisations”.
Journal of Cognition and Culture 3(3):187–207.
Stephens, T
2002 “Fair go for all but let’s not be smug about it”.
Pp. 2 in The Melbourne Age. Melbourne.
Stoll, E
2006 “La fórmula de tratamiento señorita en el español peninsular comparada con el fräulein alemán. Modificaciones de significado y empleo”. In
La cortesía en el mundo hispánico: nuevos contextos, nuevos enfoques metodológicos,
M. Schrader-Kniffki (ed). 79–95 Madrid: Vervuert - Iberoamericana.
Swales, J.M
1990 Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge/Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
van Dijk, T.A
1996 La noticia como discurso: comprensión, estructura y producción de la información. Barcelona: Ediciones Paidós.
van Dijk, T.A
2003 Racismo y discurso de las elítes. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Vazquez y del Arbol, E
2005 “A genre-based study of biomedical editorials and letters to the editor: a contrastive analysis”.
Iberica 101:145–160.
Vergaro, C
2005 “‘Dear Sirs, I hope you will find this information useful’: discourse strategies in Italian and English ‘For Your Information’ (FYI) letters”.
Discourse Studies 7(1):109–135.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K
1999 “Letters to the Editor”.
Peace Review 11(1):53–59.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K
2001 “Letters to the Editor as a forum for public deliberation: modes of publicity and democratic debate”.
Critical Studies in Media Communication 18(3):303–320.
Walton, D.N
1989 Informal logic: a handbook for critical argumentation. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Watts, R.J
2003 Politeness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wolfson, N
1983 “An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English”. In
Sociolinguistics and language acquisition,
N. Wolfson and
E. Judd (eds). 82–95 Rowley MA: Newsbury House.
Yunxia, Z
2000 “Structural moves reflected in English and Chinese sales letters”.
Discourse Studies 2(4):473–496.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Rojas-Lizana, Sol
2023.
Memory discourses in visitor books of travelling exhibits in Southern Chile.
Memory Studies
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 april 2024. 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.