The medieval life of language: grammar and pragmatics from Bacon to Kempe

Abstract

The episode in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale when Alisoun permits Absolon to kiss some private part of her anatomy through the privy window is well known. His exclamation, ‘Fy! Allas!’ and her response ‘Tee-hee’ before slamming the window shut forms the subject of one of the central chapters of this volume on the pragmatics of medieval language and literature. It explores the history of medieval pragmatic theory and metapragmatic awareness across social discourses through a series of fascinating inter-related case-studies within a broadly Bakhtinian framework, engaging with cultural discourse analysis and conversational theory.