The Use of Second Person Pronouns in Private and Official Letters in Early Modern English

Thèse de Bachelor , 2014 , 209 Pages , Note: 1,0

Philologie Anglaise - Linguistique

This thesis includes 171 pages of detailed linguistic corpus analysis as well as 36 pages of running text examining the use of thou, thee, ye and you in Early Modern English. The corpus I will use is the diachronic multi-genre Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, which consists of 1 572 800 words. For my investigation of the subjective and objective second person pronouns, I will consider all 2977 occurrences of thou, thee, ye and you (including their alternative spellings) in the 126 Early Modern English text samples of private and official correspondence.

For this research, I will use private and official letters, since they are essentially the only surviving text samples in which an individual is consistently addressed. I will first analyze the use of the subjective and objective second person pronouns in private correspondence. More precisely, I will determine how thou, thee, ye and you (and their alternative spellings) were used in the period of Early Modern English and in which context they appeared. Next, I will investigate the same four pronouns in non-private Early Modern English letters. Finally, I will compare the use of the subjective and objective second person pronouns in private and non-private correspondence from the first Early Modern English period (1500 to 1570) through the second one (1570 to 1640) up to the third and last one (1640 to 1710). I will explore to what extent a status distinction or an emotional marking is made within these private and official letters and how each of the four pronouns developed until only you remained.

Initially, the usage of certain second person pronouns related to social status as well. In Middle English, ye and you were generally used by inferiors for addressing their superiors, while thou and thee were employed by superiors for speaking with their inferiors (cf. Adamson et al 2001: 206, 227-228; Barber 1976: 208; Baugh and Cable 1978: 242; Brown and Gilman 1960: 255-257 ; Byrne 1936: xix-xx, xxiii-xxiv, xxvii; Görlach 1991: 85). In Early Modern English, the use of the more polite pronouns ye and you was favored, and, as a result, the status distinction became less common until it was eventually dropped in Modern English.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• The use of second person pronouns in private and official letters in Early Modern English
  • The use of second person pronouns in Early Modern English
  • Corpus and method
  • The use of second person pronouns in private letters
    • First Early Modern English period
    • Second Early Modern English period
    • Third Early Modern English period
  • The use of second person pronouns in official letters
    • First Early Modern English period
    • Second Early Modern English period
    • Third Early Modern English period
  • A comparison of second person pronouns in private and official letters
    • First Early Modern English period
    • Second Early Modern English period
    • Third Early Modern English period
• Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper examines the use of the second person pronouns thou, thee, ye, and you in Early Modern English (EModE). The study focuses on analyzing their usage in both private and official letters, aiming to understand the evolution of these pronouns and their relationship to social status and emotional expression. By comparing their usage across three periods of EModE, the paper explores how the pronouns shifted from a system of formality and social distinction to a more unified form.

• The historical development of second person pronouns in EModE
• The role of social status in the use of second person pronouns
• The relationship between pronoun usage and emotional expression
• The evolution of the pronoun system from a complex system of formality to a more unified form
• The impact of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts on the study of EModE language

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The introduction provides an overview of the history of second person pronouns in English, highlighting the shift from a complex system of forms in Old and Middle English to a simplified system in EModE. It also introduces the research question and methodology, emphasizing the use of private and official letters from the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts. Chapter 2 delves into the analysis of the use of thou, thee, ye, and you in private and official letters across the three periods of EModE. It examines the frequency and context of each pronoun, analyzing their relation to social status and emotional expression. This chapter provides a detailed account of the evolution of the second person pronoun system in EModE, highlighting the gradual decline of thou and thee and the rise of you as the primary form.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The research focuses on second person pronouns, social status, emotional expression, and the historical development of English language. The study utilizes the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, a diachronic multi-genre collection of texts, to analyze the usage of thou, thee, ye, and you in private and official letters from the Early Modern English period.

• Université: University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar)
• Note: 1,0
• Auteur: Julie Dillenkofer (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2014
• Pages: 209
• N° de catalogue: V313782
• ISBN (ebook): 9783668129023
• ISBN (Livre): 9783668129030
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: second, person, pronouns, private, official, letters, early, modern, english