Abstract
The best pedagogical practices in the teaching of the History of the English Language (HEL) recommend the incorporation of new research paradigms. Historical pragmatics and historical sociolinguistics are both relatively new fields of study, and both clearly locate the English language in its social and cultural context. This chapter will give you examples of historical pragmatic studies (e.g., the evolution of discourse markers and changes in directive speech acts) and historical sociolinguistics (e.g., the use of you/thou in relation to social rank and gender, changes from positive (neutral) politeness to negative politeness) that can fruitfully be incorporated into HEL courses.
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