Part of
Diachronic Corpus PragmaticsEdited by Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas H. Jucker and Jukka Tuominen
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 243] 2014
► pp. 277–302
Edited by Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas H. Jucker and Jukka Tuominen
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 243] 2014
► pp. 277–302
Exploring verbal aggression in English historical texts using USAS
The possibilities, the problems and potential solutions
This article investigates the ways in which we might use the UCREL Semantic Annotation System (USAS) to explore pragmatic phenomena relating to verbal aggression within Old Bailey trial texts dating from the late eighteenth century. Specifically, I demonstrate how this automated system can be used to identify potential leads into what I have called an aggression space, by way of the words, phrases and multi-word units captured by six USAS semantic-field tags: speech acts (Q2.2), im/politeness (S1.2.4+/-), (lack of) respect (S7.2+/-) and violence/anger (E3-). As these semtags, as they are known, have been designed with modern data in mind, I also discuss the problems which arise when using the tool to explore historical courtroom proceedings, and outline some potential solutions to these problems.
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Cited by (8)
Cited by 8 other publications
Landone, Elena
2022. Corpus Analysis. In Methodology in Politeness Research [Advances in (Im)politeness Studies, ], ► pp. 217 ff. 
Taylor, Charlotte
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[no author supplied]
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