much ado about nothing pronouns

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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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much ado about nothing pronouns

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