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EL2211 Historical Variation inEnglish
Terms of Address and
Pronouns
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Contents Introduction
1st Person Pronouns
2nd Person Pronouns
3rd Person Pronouns & Terms of Address
Conclusion
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IntroductionPronoun use- Use of 1st person, 2nd and 3rd pronounsin Early
Modern English (EME) can be analysed based on:
(i) Intimacy between speakers(ii) Topic of conversation
(iii) Status
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Introduction
Terms of Address- First names and titles also signal
intimacy of relationships or the status of theperson
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1st Person Pronouns
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1st Person Pronouns Only singular 1st person pronouns used
Subjective I most frequently used
Difference between possessive my and mine:
o mine appears before words beginning with vowels e.g mineenemy
o my appears elsewhere
Difference between objective me and mee (typesetting)
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2nd Person
Pronouns
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2nd Person PronounsCase Number As represented in the
1611 Bible
MnE equivalent
Subjective Singular Thou You
Plural Ye* You
Objective Singular Thee You
Plural You You
Possessive Singular Thy, Thine Your, Yours
Plural Your, Yours Your, Yours
Table 2. 2nd Person Pronouns
*Asterisks indicate pronoun not found in extract
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2nd Person Pronouns
French influence (vous and tu)
English you and thou adopted social
meanings of power and intimacy
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2nd Person Pronouns
Use of You:
Indicates listeners high social status
Used by speakers of a lower social status to those above them
Used even among the upper classes
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2nd Person Pronouns
Use of You:
Expresses respect and superiority
Indicates distance
o Socially (class)
o Intimacy in relationships
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2nd Person Pronouns
Use of Thou:
Expresses social inferiority and intimacy in relationships
Used by speakers of a higher class addressing those belowthem
Used among the lower classes
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2nd Person Pronouns
Use of Thou:
Used to address:
o Godo Other supernatural beings (e.g ghosts, witches)
In an imaginary address to an absent person
In expressing affection and closeness in relationships
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2nd Person Pronouns
Changes between You and Thou:
Indicates a topic shift
Marks a change in emotion of the individual and theinteraction
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2nd Person Pronouns Benedick & Beatrice have an ambivalent relationship which
manifests in the shift between thou and you forms.
Sparring in earlier scenes is exclusively in the formal youform
Perpetuates the fiction of their mutual disinterest
Benedick:Lady Beatrice, haue youwept al this while?
o solemn topic of Beatrices anguish
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2nd Person Pronouns I doe loue nothing in the worlde so well as you(1931)
o Bringing up his feelings for her
o Did not want to make too big an assumption
Beatrice: As strange as the thing I knowe not, it were as possible for me
to say, I loued nothing so wel as you, but beleue me not, and yet I lie not, I
confesse nothing, nor I deny nothing
Benedick: By my sword Beatrice, thou louest me. (1933-37)
Her response emboldened him enough to use the intimateform.
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2nd Person Pronouns Benedick: By my sword Beatrice, thou louest me.
Beatrice: Do not sweare and eate it.
Benedick: I will sweare by it thatyouloue me, and I wil make him
eate it that sayes I loue notyou.
Beatrice: Will you not eate your word?Benedick:. With no sawce that can be deuised to it, I protest I loue thee.
(1937-43)
Benedick reverts to the you form after Beatrices evasion.
They fall back into their earlier habit of exchanging wits.
Benedick quickly switches back to the thou form.
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2nd Person Pronouns
Come bid me doe any thing for thee.(1951)
o Continues to use the thou form even after Beatrices
daunting reply.
Benedick: Thinkeyou inyour soule the Count Claudio hath wrongd Hero?
Beatrice: Yea, as sure as I haue a thought, or a soule.
Benedick: Enough, I am engagde, I will challenge him, I will kisseyour
hand, and so I leaueyou: by this hand, Claudio shal render me a deereaccount: asyou heare of me, so think of me: goe comforteyour coosin, I
must say she is dead, and so fare-well. (1989-96)
His reversion to the you form signals a transition - more
sombre and mature.
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2nd Person Pronouns Beatrice uses the you form throughout, even when she is
passionately declaring her love:
o I loue youwith so much of my heart, that none is left to
protest.(1949-50) Known for her independence - condemned for pride and scorn
o insufficient time to process Benedicks outburst and
perhaps let her guard down.
Maintain dignity and distance - Benedick must not consider her
won over
Perhaps leading him to believe that he must accept her
challenge before she fully reciprocates.
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3rd Person Pronouns
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Terms of Address
(i) First names:Beatrice, Claudio, Heromodified by adjectives like
sweete and good
Used to convey affection vs. emotions: sweete Beatricevs. sweete Hero
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Terms of Address
(ii) Titles:Lady, Countaccompanied by first names in Lady
Beatrice and Count Claudio
Signals the noble status of Beatrice and Claudio
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ConclusionPronouns and Terms of addressimportant in:
signalling intimacy of relationship betweenindividuals and in respecting each othersstatus
achieving social/pragmatic functions as seenthrough the subtle shift of 2nd personpronoun forms you to thou
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