Thou and You in Early Modern English Dialogues

“Terry Walker's 'Thou and You in Early Modern English Dialogues' (2007) is an impressive in-depth study on pronoun in early English trials, depositions and comedies. Mainly drawing material from A Corpus of English Dialogues 1560-1760 (CED) [...] the book is a welcome addition to the extensive continuum of historical linguistic studies concentrating on the use of thou and you. Walker's book is a meticulous and comprehensive study. Its major strength lies in the way in which quantitative analysis is combined with, and supported by, qualitative examination of the context. With ample use of examples drawn from the data, the writer is able to illustrate the extent of variation in the use of second-person singular pronouns within the period when thou was gradually becoming obsolete. Her findings both corroborate those gained from earlier studies on the macro-level factors determining thou and you usage and shed new light on the contextual variation of the two pronouns. The study also proves how important and advantageous it is to be able to make use of well-compiled language corpora for studies in historical linguistics, in general, and in sociopragmatics, in particular.”

“Walker's book, an in particular her investigation of the Depositions material, represents an important corrective addition to existing scholarship in the field, which has tended to concentrate on dramatic works, and those of Shakespeare in particular. An impressive amount of detailed information is processed, but the reader is guided through the presentation by purposeful organisation of the material into subsections, by frequent summaries and helpful graphs and charts supplementing the tables, and by great clarity of style throughout.”