Mecanismos pragmalingüísticos en cartas de monarcas españoles: siglos XVI-XIX

This paper examines the mechanisms of (im)politeness in the history of Spanish through the analysis of a corpus of 60 private letters sent by five Spanish monarchs (Carlos I, Felipe II, Isabel de Farnesio, M.ª Luisa de Borbón and M.ª Cristina de Borbón) to their descendants between the 16th and 19th centuries. Using a quantitative and qualitative methodology, two pragmalinguistic levels have been studied: forms of address and speech acts (directive and expressive). The results reveal that i. the use of tuteo in descendant address is generalised from the 16th century onwards, ii. direct strategies predominate in directive acts, especially imperatives, and iii. epistolary greetings and farewells become progressively more flexible, adopting a more affectionate and secular tone.