莎士比亚时代的英语属于早期现代英语,保留着中古英语中“you”和“thou”两种形式的第二人称单数代词。这两种称呼与社会生活中的权势和同等关系密切相关。莎士比亚的剧作《李尔王》就很好地体现了这两个代词的社会语言学含义。 Shakespeare ’s English belongs to early modern English and retains the second person singular pronouns of “you” and “thou” in Middle English. These two terms are closely related to the power and equal relations in social life. Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” is a good illustration of the sociolinguistic meanings of these two pronouns.