(Im)politeness research on historical texts: an interaction-based approach on the samples derived

Abstract

(Im)politeness research is a field of study that is not limited to politeness and impoliteness methods used in contemporary languages but is also becoming enriched with studies on the data obtained from historical texts. Research on the earlier periods of different languages provides valuable information about the development the phenomenon of linguistic politeness. Studies on different periods of Turkic, especially the Old Uyghur Turkic period, are gradually increasing. Conducting interaction-based analyzes that consider the turn structure to understand how forms of politeness are used in spoken language is of great importance for data obtained from historical texts as well as contemporary languages. However, the lack of databases created by using video or audio recordings alleviates the need for a unique method for interaction-based politeness studies in historical texts. In response to the mentioned need, this study aims to present a sample research process for interaction-based politeness analysis in dialogues obtained from historical texts. This process can be summarized as the application of (im)politeness analysis upon the preliminary analysis called the Context-Dialogue-Interaction Analysis trilogy. The trilogy is not limited to politeness research but can also be used to investigate other similar phenomena in pragmatics. In the article, some sample analyzes obtained from the work called Hamzanâmeler, belonging to the Old Anatolian Turkish period, will be presented.

Keywords

• politeness in historical texts
• hamzaname