Pronouns with directives in early English manuals on child birth

Abstract

A significant topic in English Historical Linguistics and English Historical Pragmatics is the evolution of the formal/informal second person forms of addressing (Busser 2002, Taavitsainen & Jucker 2003) and its gradual disappearance from the language. However, the use of other pronouns in the address term system seems to have been less studied. We present here a quantification and analysis of the subject pronouns used in the interaction established among master writer, student reader, patient and general public, in three Early English manuals on child birth. Results show that not only second but also the third person pronouns are relevant in directives and that their alternation might be due to pragmatic reasons. Historical studies on ESP like this one may give answer to linguistic choices in PDE scientific writing.