ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we look at characteristics in the way the message is formulated that reveal information about the speaker or writer. These stylistically conveyed meanings are connotations: they are not normally recorded in the dictionary, but are read between the lines, on the basis of widespread associations. We shall call the information revealed ‘speaker-related information’, regardless of whether there is a written text or not. Likewise, to avoid cluttering the text with heavy compounds (‘speaker/writer’, ‘reader/listener’), we shall apply the terms ‘speaker’ and ‘listener’ to spoken and written texts alike.
