Disinherited protagonists in the early history of T/V variation in Middle English
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21599538 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Olga Timofeeva (0000-0001-5974-2517, University of Zurich, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 168-186 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language and Literature International Journal of Stylistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-9470 • E-ISSN: 1461-7293 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/09639470251327500 |
| OpenAlex | W4410128316 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
Middle English is the essential stage in the development of English second-person pronouns. This is the time when honorific forms ye / you / your emerge, as commonly believed under French influence, gradually become default, and eventually oust the inherited singular forms thou / thee / thi(ne) to marked contexts and regionally restricted varieties. This paper addresses the initial stages of these developments dealing with the earliest attestations of honorific ye in two Middle English romances that make up the so-called ‘Matter of England’. More specifically, its focus is on Havelok the Dane (c.1300) and The Tale of Gamelyn (c.1350), which both have disinheritance as the central conflict and thus narrate stories of protagonists who are socially ambiguous. This essay investigates how this ambiguity is reflected at the level of second-person pronouns when they address, and are addressed by, other characters. Special attention is given to the notion of ‘interactional status’ theorised by Jucker (2006, 2020) and, in particular, to how it can enlighten several cases of switches between thou and ye pronouns in the chosen romances
Art · Astronomy · Middle English · Physics · Classics · History · Lexicography and Language Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Havelok
The T/V pronouns in later Middle English Literature
You und thou
Social stratification
Voices on the Past. Studies in Old and Middle English Language and Literature
The use of thou and you in Early Modern spoken English
Yet ar ye not lyche, for thu art a fals strumpet”
The pronoun of address in Piers Plowman
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |