This chapter offers a very brief introduction to the topic addressed in this book and presents a general outline.

Chapter 2 contains a detailed overview of Construction Grammar and Relevance Theory. Special attention is given to identifying their respective strengths and weaknesses, particularly with regard to questions about the semantics–pragmatics interface. This will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand and pave the way for a genuine integration of the two theories.

Chapter 5 concludes that combining Construction Grammar with Relevance Theory is advantageous. Merging these two frameworks amplifies their respective strengths, resulting in more precise and accurate descriptions of language use as well as a deeper understanding of the cognitive processes involved in verbal communication. It is shown how English modals serve as an effective testing ground of the new theoretical model that arises from this integration (Leclercq, 2023), and future research prospects are suggested.

Chapter 4 introduces the categories of speech and thought representation and traces their development in the history of English. Categories of speech representation can be identified in Old and Middle English, but thought representation existed only in the more narrator-controlled forms such as indirect thought and narrative representation of thought; mixed forms, such as “slippage” between direct and indirect speech, were common. The conventionalization of quotation marks in Early Modern English led to the clearer marking of direct speech. Overall, there is a general trend from more indirect (narrator-controlled, summarizing) forms to more direct (autonomous or non-narrator-controlled, verbatim) forms of representation. For all periods, (free) direct speech is the norm for speech representation. Internal narration takes over from narrative representation of thought in the modern period. Free indirect discourse did not exist in earlier English, arising perhaps in proto-form in the seventeenth century, but became fully conventionalized only in the course of the nineteenth century. Present-day English is characterized by the rise of new reporting verbs, especially go and be like.

Chapter 1 introduces the field of historical pragmatics. The rise of historical pragmatics in the mid-1990s was the result of changes in both linguistics and pragmatics. In linguistics, a reawakened interest in historical linguistics, combined with an emphasis on language as performance, on the ephemeral aspects of language, on meanings as negotiated in use, with the importance of social and cultural factors in shaping language use, with the increased importance of the analysis of empirical data, made easier by the development of computer corpora, all set the groundwork for the rise of historical pragmatics. In pragmatics, it was the recognition that written discourse, and not just oral discourse, constituted communicative acts produced in a social and cultural context, and was thus a valid subject of pragmatic study. The scope of historical pragmatics spans the two branches of pragmatics, the Anglo-American and the European Continental branch, with two aligned fields – historical sociolinguistics and historical sociopragmatics – having affinity with the latter. The chapter includes an introductory case study of pragmatic markers exemplifying the approach of historical pragmatics.

Historical pragmatics encompasses the subfields of historical pragmatics (proper), with static focus on pragmatic forms and functions in earlier language stages, and diachronic pragmatics, with dynamic focus on changes over time. Within each subfield, one can focus on the level of expressions (words, phrases, clauses), utterances (speech acts), and discourse (register, genre, style). But the “bad data” problem means that for the past we lack naturally occurring oral conversation, where pragmatic meaning, such as speaker attitude and speaker–hearer interaction, is most obvious. However, from the medieval period, we have records which, while they come down to us in written form, represent authentic (“speech-based”) dialogue (court transcripts, depositions, parliamentary proceedings), constructed or “speech-purposed” dialogue (dramatic and fictional dialogue) or intended for oral delivery (sermons, prayers). “Speech-like” texts are more or less colloquial in nature (personal letters, diaries). Many of these documents are now accessible in multi-genre and specialized, single-genre electronic corpora. Finally, this chapter contemplates the possibility of pragmatic corpus annotation.

Chapter 5 introduces two approaches to politeness: politeness as the avoidance of face-threatening acts and politeness as the enhancement of communicative concord. Over time, politeness has changed significantly. The Old English period was a period of “discernment” politeness, growing out of the fixed social order. The Middle English period saw the rise of “deference” politeness following the French fashion (i.e., the honorific system of second-person pronouns). A face-based system began in Early Modern English, but studies are not consistent in finding this to be a positive or negative politeness system. The deference politeness system fell out of use. The eighteenth century extolled polite manners and behavior and has been described as a “compliment culture”. The modern period is characterized by “non-imposition” politeness, most obvious in the development of indirect directives (negative politeness). At the same time, a system of camaraderie politeness, which increases solidarity and eliminates distance between individuals, coexists (positive politeness). The chapter provides case studies of compliments, insults, thanks, and responses to thanks in the history of English.

Chapter 8 provides a select introduction to register, genre, and style. The multidimensional analysis of style reveals a gradual drift from “literate” to “oral” over time. Attention is given here to the news and religious registers. The news register has seen the rise of the newspaper, leading to the introduction of new publication types, such as television, radio, and internet news, and new genres, such as editorials, obituaries, or weather forecasts. The religious register has a long history and has been remarkably stable. Two religious genres, prayers and sermons, have changed little in respect to function, structure, and linguistic characteristics. The function of recipes remains constant (i.e., instructions on how to prepare or do something), thus accounting for the imperative as the defining linguistic form, but we find differences in the content of recipes (medicinal vs. culinary), in the audience of recipes (e.g., the professional vs. the amateur cook), in the structural elements found in recipes (e.g., separation of the ingredients and the procedural steps), and in characteristic linguistic features (e.g., the introduction of null objects and telegraphic style).