Comic Strategies for Communicative Anchoring in Plautus: Kinship Terms of Address in Anagnorisis Scenes

The present paper analyses case studies from Plautus’ comedies, and investigates whether it is possible to identify specific comic strategies that are used as anchoring devices to the common ground in interactions between the characters on the stage, as well as between the actors and the audience. In particular, it examines a sample of recognition scenes in which a sudden change in interpersonal relationships translates into situations of communicative misalignement and realignement between the interacting parties. Within these contexts, the paper focuses on the comic use of anchoring signals, such as the kinship terms of address with which the characters define each other.