Gracias a Dios: A pragmalinguistic study of gratitude in the wake of crises in Puerto Rico

Gratitude is valued in both religion and moral philosophy, as it benefits interpersonal relationships between the beneficiary and the provider. However, the Spanish expression gracias a Dios, ‘thank God,’ is not always employed to express gratitude and ocurrs in both religious and non-religious discourse. This pragmalinguistic study investigated functions of this expression in a religious context in Puerto Rico. Gratitude expressions were identified among 27 church leaders and community members from three Christian denominations throughout 43 in-depth interviews in Spanish. The interviews took place in the aftermath of two hurricanes from 2019 through 2022, an extended period of crisis in Puerto Rico when the government response was limited, allowing churches to provide immediate physical relief and spiritual and emotional support. Through a narrative inquiry approach, participants were asked to explain how they experienced each crisis, how they received spiritual and emotional care, and the impact on their faith. An analysis of gratitude expressions in these interviews highlighted functions that diverged from prior linguistic research. Unlike prior studies, gracias a Dios was not employed as a mere formulaic expression or discourse marker. Instead, participants consistently used the phrase to directly thank a benevolent deity, a use supported in extant research in psychology and religion. Results highlight a difference when thanking a God, rather than a person (what the literature on thanking describes), and propose a distinct embedded use of the phrase gracias a Dios in the context of trauma and profoundly religious experiences.