Conclusion

Historical pragmatics is not a new term, and even less does it describe an entirely new field of scientific enquiry. However, it is a term that so far has only been used sporadically. The research efforts that are potentially relevant for this field are scattered over various branches of pragmatics and historical linguistics. The use of the term historical pragmatics does not only delimit a field of scientific enquiry; it should also bring together researchers who share an interest in both language history and pragmatics. It should help to put a wide range of research efforts into a clearer focus. We have tried to give a rough and ready overview of the most important literature in this field.

It is no coincidence that the time seems to be ready now for a more rigorous application of the term historical pragmatics. Pragmatics has learnt to look for communicative behavior beyond the limits of the spoken word, and historical linguistics has learnt to ask questions that go beyond the immediate sentence and text boundaries of historical texts. In this way both fields can make important contributions to the other field. The time has come for interdisciplinary research efforts.