From Negative to Positive Face: Apologizing in the History of Italian

Apologies can be considered positive politeness strategies which protect the speaker’s face and minimize potential conflicts. Recent studies on Italian apologies underlined how many polite functions of these speech acts are recent developments that do not characterize previous stages of Italian. Over the centuries not only Italian speakers tend to apologize more frequently, but they also overextend the use of apologies to other polite functions in addition to repair work.

Moving from these findings, this study analyses the empirical realization of face and facework in Italian apologies from the perspective of historical pragmatics. In this diachronic analysis, we take into consideration the comparison of polite behaviour in different social groups and different social contexts, its relationship with the notion of face, and their developments through time—this ultimately shedding light on the diachronic instability of the notion of face itself and on its dynamic relation with politeness.