Women's Epistolary Utterance : A Study of the Letters of Joan and Maria Thynne, 1575-1611

"Located at the intersection of historical pragmatics, letters and manuscript studies, this book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the letters of Joan and Maria Thynne, 1575-1611. It investigates multiple ways in which socio-culturally and socio-familially contextualized reading of particular collections may increase our understanding of early modern letters as a particular type of handwritten communicative activity. The book also adds to our understanding of these women as individual users of English in their historical moment, especially in terms of literacy and their engagement with cultural scripts. Throughout the book, analysis is based on the manuscript letters themselves and in this way several chapters address the importance of viewing original sources to understand the letters' full pragmatic significance. Within these broader frameworks, individual chapters address the women's use of scribes, prose structure and punctuation, performative speech act verbs, and (im)politeness, sincerity and mock (im)politeness." -- Publisher website. p&bns 233 Women’s Epistolary Utterance 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Table of contents 6 Acknowledgements 10 Chapter 1 12 Introduction 12 1.1 Research objectives 12 1.2 Previous research 15 1.3 Why the Thynne letters? 18 1.4 Theory and methodology: Historical utterance in writing 21 1.5 Overview of analyses 25 Chapter 2 30 The familial backdrop 30 Short biographies of the Thynne women 30 2.1 Joan (bap. 1558, d. 1612) 30 2.2 Maria (c.1578–1611) 35 Chapter 3 42 ‘Mouths have become hands’ 42 Holograph vs. scribal utterance 42 3.1 Macro-context: The holograph/scribal distinction 48 3.2 Micro-context: Using scribes 50 3.3 Analysis I: Handwriting 56 3.4 Analysis II: Spatial organization of the page 59 3.5 Analysis III: Orthographies and abbreviation 61 3.6 Analysis IV: Scribes and language 64 3.6.1 Scribal practice(s) 64 3.6.2 Scribal variation in Joan Thynne’s letters 68 3.7 Conclusion 73 Chapter 4 76 Ruling epistolary prose 76 Punctuation and textual-utterance markers 76 4.1 Textual utterances 77 4.2 Historical background to epistolary prose structure 81 4.3 Punctuation 83 4.3.1 Punctuation in Joan’s holograph letters 86 4.3.2 Punctuation in Joan’s scribal letters 92 4.3.3 Punctuation in Maria’s letters 96 4.4 Lexical utterance markers 99 4.4.1 Connectives 99 4.4.2 Adverbial and subordinating connectors 103 4.4.3 Discourse markers and interjections 107 4.5 Present participles 114 4.6 Openings and closings 118 4.7 Conclusion 122 Chapter 5 124 Everyday magic verbs 124 Performative utterances 124 5.1 Performatives: Description and significance 124 5.2 Commissive performatives 128 5.3 Representative performatives 132 5.4 Expressive performatives 140 5.5 Directive performatives 144 5.6 Negative data? 159 5.7 Conclusion 162 Chapter 6 166 Utterance, power and politeness 166 The letter exchange between Joan Thynne and Lucy Audley 166 6.1 Mitigating the pragmatic risks of (not) writing 172 6.2 Expressions of ‘friendship’ and sincerity 176 6.3 Address terms 185 6.4 Some other telling linguistic features 188 6.5 Summary of Lucy and Joan’s politeness strategies 191 6.6 Palaeography and textual pragmatics 194 6.7 The complexities of negotiation 196 Chapter 7 200 Sincerity, seriousness and ironic subversions 200 The attitudes of utterance in the letters of Maria Thynne, c.1601–1610 200 7.1 Defining and interpreting historical attitudes 201 7.2 Thought, expression and sincerity 204 7.3 Trial, God, kinship terms and flattery: Extending the rhetoric of sincerity 207 7.4 ‘yf you please’: Sarcasm in the final letter to Joan 212 7.5 ‘the effectes of a very much disquyetted minde’: Ironic play in the letters to Thomas 217 7.6 ‘In Sober Sadness’: Maria’s serious voice 223 7.7 Conclusion 227 Chapter 8 230 Conclusions and future directions 230 8.1 Looking at manuscript sources 230 8.2 Communicative spaces in writing 232 8.3 Literacy and personality 235 8.4 Questions 236 8.5 The end 238 Bibliography 240 A calendar with selected diplomatic transcriptions and images of the letters of Joan and Maria Thynne, c.1575–1611 250 Acknowledgements 10 1. Introduction 12 1.1 Research objectives 12 1.2 Previous research 15 1.3 Why the Thynne letters? 18 1.4 Theory and methodology: Historical utterance in writing 21 1.5 Overview of analyses 25 2. The familial backdrop: Short biographies of the Thynne women 30 2.1 Joan (bap. 1558, d. 1612) 30 2.2 Maria (c.1578-1611) 35 3. ‘Mouths have become hands’: Holograph vs. scribal utterance 42 3.1 Macro-context: The holograph/scribal distinction 48 3.2 Micro-context: Using scribes 50 3.3 Analysis I: Handwriting 56 3.4 Analysis II: Spatial organization of the page 59 3.5 Analysis III: Orthographies and abbreviation 61 3.6 Analysis IV: Scribes and language 64 3.6.1 Scribal practice(s) 64 3.6.2 Scribal variation in Joan Thynne’s letters 68 3.7 Conclusion 73 4. Ruling epistolary prose: Punctuation and textual-utterance markers 76 4.1 Textual utterances 77 4.2 Historical background to epistolary prose structure 81 4.3 Punctuation 83 4.3.1 Punctuation in Joan’s holograph letters 86 4.3.2 Punctuation in Joan’s scribal letters 92 4.3.3 Punctuation in Maria’s letters 96 4.4 Lexical utterance markers 99 4.4.1 Connectives 99 4.4.2 Adverbial and subordinating connectors 103 4.4.3 Discourse markers and interjections 107 4.5 Present participles 114 4.6 Openings and closings 118 4.7 Conclusion 122 5. Everyday magic verbs: Performative utterances 124 5.1 Performatives: Description and significance 124 5.2 Commissive performatives 128 5.3 Representative performatives 132 5.4 Expressive performatives 140 5.5 Directive performatives 144 5.6 Negative data? 159 5.7 Conclusion 162 6. Utterance, power and politeness: The letter exchange between Joan Thynne and Lucy Audley 166 6.1 Mitigating the pragmatic risks of (not) writing 172 6.2 Expressions of ‘friendship’ and sincerity 176 6.3 Address terms 185 6.4 Some other telling linguistic features 188 6.5 Summary of Lucy and Joan’s politeness strategies 191 6.6 Palaeography and textual pragmatics 194 6.7 The complexities of negotiation 196 7. Sincerity, seriousness and ironic subversions: The attitudes of utterance in the letters of Maria 200 7.1 Defining and interpreting historical attitudes 201 7.2 Thought, expression and sincerity 204 7.3 Trial, God, kinship terms and flattery: Extending the rhetoric of sincerity 207 7.4 ‘yf you please’: Sarcasm in the final letter to Joan 212 7.5 ‘the effectes of a very much disquyetted minde’: Ironic play in the letters to Thomas 217 7.6 ‘In Sober Sadness’: Maria’s serious voice 223 7.7 Conclusion 227 8. Conclusions and future directions 230 8.1 Looking at manuscript sources 230 8.2 Communicative spaces in writing 232 8.3 Literacy and personality 235 8.4 Questions 236 Bibliography 240 Appendix 250 Transcription policy 250 Reference headings 250 Orthography and punctuation 252 Abbreviations 252 Deletions and additions 252 Layout and lineation 253 Joan Thynne’s letters, 1575-1611 253 Maria Thynne’s letters, c. 1601-1610 268 Index 274