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The Medieval Life of Language : Grammar and Pragmatics from Bacon to Kempe
Alisoun’s Giggle, or the Miller Does Pragmatics
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Abstract
This chapter discusses Chaucer’s Miller’s Prologue and Tale as an encounter with grammatical theory and pragmatics more generally. Analyzing the tale’s use of interjections, polysemy, and equivocation, we discover how Chaucer deconstructs the notion of stable, authorial, intentional meaning and explores narrative dialogism and the pragmatics of identity and affective power for comic and satiric effect.