How to explain diachronic variation of politeness. The example of German pronouns of address

This contribution looks at diachronic developments in the forms and uses of German address pronouns and treats them as one example of politeness change. The discussion shows that the historical analysis of the pronouns is very precise in the description of their developments, but fails to explain how and why address forms change. In order to facilitate an explanatory approach, the concept of politeness needs to be addressed too. The article proposes a contemporary concept of politeness as relational work that can contribute to accounting for these diachronic processes, and that can also be used to explain politeness change as an example of an invisible-hand process.