Current debates over 'taboos', 'freedom of speech', 'silent majorities', and minorities gaining a 'voice' reflect societal norms that favour communication and problematise silence. This three-year research project, funded by The Leverhulme Trust, investigates the historical development of such norms from a bottom-up perspective. 

In a collaboration between the University of Reading, UK, and the University of Halle Wittenberg, Germany, we will study British and German diaries written between 1840 and 1990. We focus on ordinary people's reflections of communicative opportunities and constraints, and observe the communicative norms underlying such reflections as well as their change over time in the light of broader socio-cultural developments. Including diaries from different contexts is important to demonstrate that these broader developments go beyond a particular country or language.