Analysing migrant correspondence
What is it about?
In this essay I examine the pattern Pronoun + Verb + Pronoun (I hope you, I think she, I suppose you), typically found in personal correspondence. The data I use is a collection of nineteenth century Irish emigrant letters. My aim is to explore how these patterns (known as projection structures) contribute to, and reinforce, familial bonds, over time and distance.
Why is it important?
A key question for scholars working with historical emigrant letters is how, through correspondence, personal relationships are negotiated. I believe that the language of correspondence can provide us with clues as to how family members, separated by time and distance, maintained relationships. Intersubjectivity (including the use of projection structures such as 'I hope you', 'I wish you') is one possible avenue of exploration, revealing something about the interactive nature of emigrant correspondence and the types of relationship the emigrant letter embodies.