Nepotism and Social Solidarity in Old Kingdom Correspondence: A Case Study on Facework and Discernment Politeness in P. Boulaq 8

Abstract

This article re-examines the Old Kingdom letter P. Boulaq 8 using the methodology of Facework and Discernment Politeness. It will be demonstrated that Facework, namely the analysis of communicative strategies used to redress face-threatening-acts, such as requests, can be successfully applied to the study of Old Kingdom letters and it is a suitable framework of explanation for unclear linguistic and content-related questions. The results show that the language of P. Boulaq 8 contains a high degree of community emphasis and solidary appeals to kin help. Discernment, or socially and culturally imposed communicative rules, regulates the choice of honorifics as replacement of address terms, and indexes expectations of reciprocal social service. Language is an unexplored tool for approaching the social study of the Old Kingdom, and it is argued that it can be used to confirm and enhance the current understanding of the individual and their role within the community in ancient Egypt.