Læs dette da det er et bankkup

Om imperativers funktioner i danske trusselsbreve

Authors

  • Hannah Fedder Williams Aarhus University

Keywords:

threats, threatening language, threatening letters, forensic linguistics, imperative mood, rhetorical moves

Abstract

This paper examines one salient linguistic feature found in threatening letters, namely imperatives. The focus is on the different functions that imperative verbs can perform in threatening letters, and the paper initially introduces the essential theoretical background.

The analysis is based on authentic threatening letters collected and published in two books in 2011 and 2016. More specifically, it will briefly present how many threatening letters the two publications contain and how many of them contain imperatives. The analysis will focus on the threatening letters containing imperatives through a categorization based on the concept of rhetorical moves (Swales 1990), in which the imperative forms are present. The analysis finds that imperatives can be part of eight different types of rhetorical moves in threatening letters, and further presents qualitative analyses of examples of each rhetorical move.

Furthermore, the paper discusses the presence of imperatives in threatening letters. It is suggested that more research (both quantitative and qualitative) is needed before imperatives can be established as a characteristic feature of Danish threats.

Author Biography

Hannah Fedder Williams, Aarhus University

Hannah Fedder Williams starter på kandiddatuddannelsen i lingvistik på Aarhus Universitet i efteråret 2020. Hannah er særligt interesseret i retslingvistik og herunder forskellige former for sproglig analyse af tekster, diskurser og samtaler i juridiske kontekster. 

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Published

2019-12-15

How to Cite

Williams, H. F. (2019). Læs dette da det er et bankkup: Om imperativers funktioner i danske trusselsbreve. Journal of Language Works - Sprogvidenskabeligt Studentertidsskrift, 4(2), 60–78. Retrieved from https://tidsskrift.dk/lwo/article/view/117799