Book contents
- Politeness in the History of English
- Politeness in the History of English
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Exploring Politeness in the History of English
- 2 Research Methods and Data Problems
- 3 Medieval Britain
- 4 Terms of Address in Middle English
- 5 Renaissance and Early Modern England
- 6 Terms of Address in Early Modern English
- 7 The Eighteenth Century: The Age of Politeness
- 8 The Eighteenth Century: Educational Literature
- 9 The Rise (and Fall) of Non-imposition Politeness
- 10 Conclusion: Politeness, Manners and Dissimulation
- References
- Index
4 - Terms of Address in Middle English
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2020
- Politeness in the History of English
- Politeness in the History of English
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- 1 Exploring Politeness in the History of English
- 2 Research Methods and Data Problems
- 3 Medieval Britain
- 4 Terms of Address in Middle English
- 5 Renaissance and Early Modern England
- 6 Terms of Address in Early Modern English
- 7 The Eighteenth Century: The Age of Politeness
- 8 The Eighteenth Century: Educational Literature
- 9 The Rise (and Fall) of Non-imposition Politeness
- 10 Conclusion: Politeness, Manners and Dissimulation
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter investigates the use of nominal and pronominal terms of address in Middle English. Under the influence of French, Middle English adopted the distinction between two different pronouns of address for a single addressee: ye and thou. The chapter presents detailed case studies of selected tales of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the Miller’s Tale and the Friar’s Tale) and of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The characters in these sources are shown to use a complex system that is highly responsive to their interactional status, including not only their social relationships but also temporary shifts of conversational power within an interaction. Nominal terms of address are shown to be equally sensitive interpersonal devices that reflect the interactive behaviour between the characters and their social class distinctions.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Politeness in the History of EnglishFrom the Middle Ages to the Present Day, pp. 53 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020