'Thou art so loothly and so oold also': The Use of Ye and Thou in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Author / Editor
Jucker, Andreas H.

Title
'Thou art so loothly and so oold also': The Use of Ye and Thou in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Published
Anglistik 17.2 (2006): 57-72.

Description
The choices between ye and thou in CT are governed by the "interactional status of the characters," a set of principles differing "considerably from modern address systems." Jucker surveys previous criticism on the topic and assesses exchanges and their conditions in WBT, SNT, FrT, and NPT.

Chaucer Subjects
Language and Word Studies.
Canterbury Tales--General.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Friar and His Tale.
Nun's Priest and His Tale.
Second Nun and her Tale.