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Article In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics: Online-First Articles

“Damysell, þat can ʒe best do”

The use of thou and ye in a selection of saints’ lives from the South English Legendary and the Northern Homily Cycle

 | University of Zurich
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Abstract
An examination of early Middle English texts is essential for understanding the emergence and development of the t/v distinction, which refers to the functional distinction between the less formal singular pronoun thou (t) and the more polite plural form ye (v) to address a single interlocutor. This study investigates t/v forms in four saints’ lives contained in two early Middle English collections, namely the South English Legendary (sel) and the Northern Homily Cycle (nhc). The results of this study indicate that t forms predominate both in the sel and the nhc. The few v pronouns which appear in the selected texts often signal marked respect for a superior interlocutor and usually occur in contexts where interactionally inferior speakers make requests. These findings show that pronouns of address were highly functional and thus suggest that t/v forms could be employed strategically to characterise the interlocutors and their verbal interaction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research
    • 2.1Origin and development of the t/v distinction in me
    • 2.2Regional differences in the use of t/v pronouns
    • 2.3Variables influencing the distribution of t/v pronouns
  • 3.Material
    • 3.1The South English Legendary
    • 3.2The Northern Homily Cycle
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results and analysis
    • 1.1Pronouns of address in the South English Legendary
    • 1.2Pronouns of address in the Northern Homily Cycle
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • Sources
  • References
References (29)
Sources
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sel = D’Evelyn, Charlotte and Anna J. Mill (eds). 1969. The South English Legendary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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