ABSTRACT
Whenever we actually speak or write we are affected by social and linguistic conventions and by the expectations of readers or hearers.
All kinds of speaking and writing have conventional rules. Answering the phone, it is conventional to say ‘hello’ and to say who you are. In writing an essay it is conventional to put your name at the top, and the title, and to follow accepted rules of argument, coherence, paragraphing in standard polite English. And so on. These are conventions we habitually follow, though we may not be consciously aware of them. But they impress themselves on us, nevertheless, when they are broken. Thus when we open a letter from the bank manager and read
(1) Dear Mr Brown
the fact that letter-writing conventions are being followed does not necessarily strike us, for the very reason that they are, in fact, being followed. Example (1) is what we expect. The oddness of the bank manager’s addressing us as ‘dear’ is neutralised by its usualness. But should we receive a note from the bank manager which began
(2) You undisciplined bloody spendthrift!
