Potočnik, Tomaž; (2024) How to say Yes in Latin: A Pragmatic Analysis of Positive Response Strategies in Roman Comedy. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis studies the positive response system in Latin as reflected in Roman comedy. Its aim is to systematise and describe the various positive response strategies which were available to the speakers of Latin at the time and to determine their division of labour and pragmatic underpinnings. After a preliminary discussion of the sources and previous treatments of positive response strategies in Latin in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 develops a framework for studying the echo response—the way of providing a positive response by repeating a part of the utterance in question—and non-echo response strategies—where a new word is introduced to confirm—in a systematic and transparent manner. The main analytic chapters—chapters 4 and 5—then analyse the echo response and selected non-echo responses based on this framework. The analysis proceeds from quantitative data, which are intended to discover trends, to detailed discussions of relevant categories, which are meant to formulate pragmatic reasons for the choice of one positive response strategy over another. The last analytic chapter— Chapter 6—introduces social factors and studies correlations between the social status of the speaker and the positive response strategy used. The conclusion discusses the importance of results for future studies in Latin linguistics and linguistics in general and briefly discusses the Latin positive response system within the European linguistic area.

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