The Cambridge History of the English Language Volume 2 part 9

Barrett, JC (1994), Những mảnh vỡ từ thời cổ: Khảo cổ học của cuộc sống xã hội ở Anh, 2900-1200 bc. Oxford: Blackwell. - (2001), Cơ quan, tính hai mặt của cấu trúc, và vấn đề của hồ sơ khảo cổ học. I. Hodder (ed.).
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The Cambridge History of the English Language Volume 2 part 9 Norman BlakeIt would be dangerous to look for any significance in this switching.The same applies to Gawain at the castle of Hautdesert. Generally, headdresses his host with 7,eforms,though occasionally he relapses into apou form. Although in the temptation scenes the lady uses pou forms toGawain, he uses 7,eformsto her except for an occasional lapse. Shortlybefore she offers Gawain a ring in the third temptation scene, he relapsesinto using one py: Now iwysse, quo)? J>at vy3e, I wolde I had here J>e leuest )?ing for )>y luf )>at I in londe welde. (Tolkien & Gordon 1967: 1801-2) (Now truly, said that knight, I wish that for your sake I had the most valuable thing on earth that I own here.)It has been suggested that his lapse makes the mental turbulencedramatic - is a concrete indication of how far the lady has driven him(Evans 1967: 42), though this is perhaps to read too much into a singleexample which may have arisen for a variety of reasons including scribalcorruption.6.4.6 Other fourteenth- and fifteenth-century authors, such asChaucer and Malory, are able to exploit this difference between the twoforms. By Malorys time it may well be that the thou of intimacy wasbecoming less common, for it has been largely abandoned by thePastons in their correspondence, and this has left it as a mark ofcontempt or as a social marker. Field has pointed out a notable use ofthou forms in Le Morte Darthur (Field 1971: 101). When Gareth firstappears in Arthurs court the king is sufficiently impressed by the youngman to useje forms, which would be the polite form of address in anycase. When Gareth asks for food and drink for a year, the king switchesto thouforms,for the request seems to suggest someone of a low socialrank who has come to beg. Later, when it is revealed that Gareth is hisnephew the king reverts to ye forms. This switching of forms indicatesthat Malory was aware of the potential for social and other implicationsof the thou and you forms and was prepared to exploit them. As for the Canterbury Tales Keiko Shimonomoto has examined therelationship oiyou and thou forms with both forms of address and formsof the imperative (Shimonomoto 1986). The use of the polite you formsappears to be a characteristic of genre in so far as they occur regularlyin courtly romances. In the Franklins Talejo# forms are used by all thecharacters among themselves, though they use thou forms to gods and 538 The literary languagegoddesses and the clerk uses them in his final speech to Aurelius (CT 6: 897-902 [V.1613-18]). Since the clerk is not an aristocratic character, his use of thou forms may indicate his status. He may behave magnanimously by waiving his fee, but his language reveals him to be of a different class. Terms of address also have a significance in indicating the genre of the tale. Ladies in courtly romance can expect to be called madame, whereas those in other tales are apt to be addressed asdame. The latter is not used in tales like the Knights Tale, but it is found in the Reeves Tale, where it is said of the millers wife Ther dorste no wight clepen hire but dame (CT 1: 3948 [1.3956]). The forms of theimperative, whether they have the base form or the ending -eth, seem to be interchangeable in Chaucer. What is more significant in requests is the overall syntax rather than the form in which the verb itself appears. In more courtly language commands become concealed as gentle requests or wishes, as is found in the Hosts request to the Prioress to tell a tale (CT 10: 447-51 [VII.447-51]). Inevitably there is switching between you and thou forms, and in most cases it can be attributed to the author attempting to manipulate an effective response on the part of the reader. Because courtly romances use thejou forms as a marker of genre, there are not many examples where a courtly speaker switches to thou forms. When this happens, it may be interpreted usually as a sign of high emotional tension. Arveragus switches briefly to thou forms in the Franklins Tale when he forbids Dorigen to reveal to anyone that he has instructed her to keep her word to Aurelius (CT 6: 771-6 [V.1481-6]). The switching is probably more characteristic of other tales such as the Nuns Tale in which Cecilia at first addresses the judge Almachius withyou forms, but then switches to thou forms as her contempt for him grows. Such large shifts in attitude are not characteristic of courtly romances and hence shifting is less likely to be found there. Once again one cannot be certain that all these switches are significant, and the forms are liable to corruption in scribal transmission, but one can often provide some check on the reasons for the change b ...