Studying expressions of gratitude in Oscar acceptance speeches

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Jennifer Lawrence onstage after winning the award for Actress in a Leading Role during the Oscars held at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

Those joyful Oscar acceptance speeches we've all rehearsed in our heads a hundred times. Oscar speeches have become the stuff of legend, deconstructed and criticized as if they were one of Lincoln's great orations. No one has looked at them closer than Rebecca Rolfe. She's a graduate student at Georgia Tech who has been studying expressions of gratitude in Oscar speeches going back to the 1950s.

Those joyful Oscar acceptance speeches we've all rehearsed in our heads a hundred times. Oscar speeches have become the stuff of legend, deconstructed and criticized as if they were one of Lincoln's great orations.

No one has looked at them closer than Rebecca Rolfe. She's a graduate student at Georgia Tech who has been studying expressions of gratitude in Oscar speeches going back to the 1950s.