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Graduate Colloquium Series: Damian Robles (HISP) 2/25/20

“Excavating the Pragmatic Relics of the Early Modern Period: The Vocative Panorama of Insults and Honorifics in Don Quixote (1607-1620)” Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 4-5 p.m. Location: 311 Glasscock Building Damian Robles PhD candidate, Department of Hispanic Studies| 2019-2020 Glasscock Graduate Research Fellow Abstract: Words can shape our understanding of human identities; it is through […]

“Excavating the Pragmatic Relics of the Early Modern Period: The Vocative Panorama of Insults and Honorifics in Don Quixote (1607-1620)”

Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 4-5 p.m.
Location: 311 Glasscock Building

Damian Robles
PhD candidate, Department of Hispanic Studies| 2019-2020 Glasscock Graduate Research Fellow

Abstract:
Words can shape our understanding of human identities; it is through addressing that individuals build a persona, a self. Through the use of translation and literature, humanities and science, the project aims to facilitate the investigation of linguistic (im)politeness in the Early Modern period. In particular, the work analyzes courteous conduct, rude utterances, and nuances of nominative forms of address found in Don Quixote(1607-1620). A corpus of thirty passages from the novel (first and second part) was manually transcribed, followed by an analysis of its contrastive uses through the lens of translation and idio-pragmatics. Preliminary interventions show that in cases where address is nebulously unstable, vocatives are decisive constituents, shedding light on the contours of politeness phenomena.


The Graduate Colloquium offers graduate students an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.

The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.

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