Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Introduction 1
4. Historical pragmatics: What it is and how to do it 11
5. The development of I mean: Implications for the study of historical pragmatics 37
6. Soþlice, forsoothe, truly – communicative principles and invited inferences in the history of truthintensifying adverbs in English 81
7. Speech act verbs and speech acts in the history of English 107
8. Text types and the methodology of diachronic speech act analysis 139
9. A pragmatics for interpreting Shakespeare´s Sonnets 1 to 20: Dialogue scripts and Erasmian intertexts 167
10. Developing a more detailed picture of the English courtroom (1640–1760): Data and methodological issues facing historical pragmatics 185
11. What do you lacke? what is it you buy? Early Modern English service encounters 219
12. Letters as narrative: Narrative patterns and episode structure in early letters, 1400 to 1650 241
13. Historical linguistics, literary interpretation, and the romances of Margaret Cavendish 267
14. Discoursal aspects of the Legends of Holy Women by Osbern Bokenham 285
15. Backmatter 307