Pronominal systems (original) (raw)

Reflexive pronouns and other uses of self-forms in English

Based on recent theoretical studies in the relevant domain and on the findings of a typological research project, this paper proposes a different analysis of the syntax, meaning and use of self-forms (himself/herself, etc.) in English from that found in most major handbooks of English grammar. X-self as a reflexive anaphor is distinguished from x-self as an intensifier on the basis of various syntactic and semantic criteria. Further sub-instances of these two major uses are then distinguished. Locally free selfforms ('untriggered/creeping/logophoric self-forms') are shown to share features both with intensifiers and reflexive anaphors, but are also clearly differentiated from these two categories in their distribution and their interpretation.

English Pronouns and Evolution of the English Pronominal System

International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature

A regular system of pronouns was not fully developed until the late period of Early Modern English. The English language is classified into two linguistic groups: synthetic and analytic. The evolution of English pronouns from previous times to the present is explored to gain a better understanding of change in this lexical paradigm. Many academics suggest that English, like many other languages, has a less wellestablished history as an instrument of male patriarchal oppression. Nowadays, it raises the question of whether the English pronominal system is ever stable because people who identify as neither male nor female use non-binary/epicene pronouns.

Register, intersubjectivity and non-prototypicality of personal pronouns

2011

In this paper, I will argue that the traditional ascription of non-prototypical uses of personal pronouns to a specific genre and/or register, merits to be revised. Instead, I will propose an analysis in terms of intersujective effect as a more suitable explanation of the distribution of these phenomena. Nonprototypical uses of personal pronouns have been described for a long time in the literature, e.g. generic and speaker-referring you (Grimm 1866) or hearer-oriented we (Brown & Levinson 1978. Often, these uses are deemed to be confined to-or typical for-a certain register or genre. The heareroriented uses of we, for instance, are considered typical for power-relationships such as teacher-student, doctor-patient (Haverkate, 1984:87; Iglesias Recuero, 2001:266), whereas generic and speaker-referring you have been considered a feature of oral language, rather than written language (Tarenskeen 2010, Vila 1987, Hidalgo Navarro 1996). Based on an analysis of three Spanish mult...

IE_personal_pronouns_LinguisticaBrunensia_15-2014.pdf

After our first study in the field of Indo-European personal pronouns , where we focused on their paradigmatic levelling, we now consider internal reconstructions of partial microsystems of first and second person pronouns in all individual branches, projecting them back to the late Indo-European protolanguage. The next step was reconstruction of the primary pronominal protosystem, allowing us both to deduce forms of pronouns in historically attested languages and to understand pronominal-verbal congruence, assumed as the axiomatic starting point.

A functional account of grammatical number in English reflexive pronouns

Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 2016

Number morphology appears twice in English reflexive pronouns, first on the pronominal-possessive portion of the form, and second on the inflectional ending. Usually, the two number markings co-vary, but ‘crossed’ number forms like ourself and themself – and even myselves and herselves – are also attested. This paper argues that the two opportunities to signal number can be creatively exploited for communicative purposes, and are not controlled syntactically. The data and analysis presented provide support for a view of grammatical categories (even those commonly regarded as syntactically determined) as independent bearers of meaning.

Nias and English Personal Pronouns: A Morphosyntactic Study

While English has only two types of the personal pronouns, Nias has four. As relation between the personal pronouns of each language is not a one-to-one relationship, this research aims to assure which of those four and what other possible constructions are used to render English personal pronouns functioning as subjects and objects. Further, searching for the ‘kinds’ of English subjects and objects consisting of personal pronouns to be rendered by certain Nias personal pronouns is deeper objective of this research entitled Nias and English Personal Pronouns: A Morphosyntactic Study. The data for this research were taken from English and Nias short stories that contain various uses of the personal pronouns of both languages. It was qualitatively conducted to reach the objectives described above. The data were processed by a descriptive-analytical method where available facts and information were carefully analyzed to make critical evaluation. The result shows that all four types of Nias personal pronouns are used to render English personal pronouns functioning as subjects. Three of the types are used to render those functioning as objects. Nias pronominal prefixes are used to render English personal pronouns functioning as subjects in transitive sentences. Pronominal suffixes and mutated personal pronouns are used to render English personal pronouns functioning as subjects in intransitive sentences and those with copular verbs and to render those functioning as objects in simple independent clauses. Unmutated personal pronouns are used to render English personal pronouns functioning as subjects in relative clauses and cleft sentences and to render those functioning as objects in relative clauses. In addition to these four kinds of personal pronouns, Nias possessives are also used with prepositions and nouns to accommodate English personal pronouns used as certain subjects and objects.

Properties of Pronominal Subjects

The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics

The expression and omission of subject personal pronouns-often exemplified by the 1. Introduction: variable expression of pronominal subjects The variable use of subject personal pronouns is among the most widely studied features of Spanish syntax. Pronominal subjects can be expressed by a subject pronoun placed before the verb (example 1a), after the verb (1b) or left unexpressed (1c). 1a. Y yo creo que eso es sano. 'And I think that it is healthy.' b. No creo yo que mañana tengamos reunión. 'I don't think that we have meeting tomorrow.' c. Pues creo que no lo sabía. 'Well I think that he didn't know it.' (CREA) This property distinguishes Spanish from English and some other Western European languages like German and French that have obligatory pronominal subjects. Languages resembling Spanish are frequently referred to as null subject or pro-drop languages. Both terms originate in the Principles and Parameters version of Generative Grammar (see Chapter 1) where the term pro-drop is used of a cluster of syntactic properties including null subjects and "free" constituent order (Chomsky 1981). These terms are widely used in linguistics, although conceptualizing the lack of independent subject personal pronouns as "dropping" or as "null" arguments has also been criticized as linguistic Anglo-centrism (Dryer 2011). In more functionally oriented studies, the term "variable subject expression" has been used instead to better account for the complex nature of the phenomenon (see e.g. Otheguy and Zentella 2012; Travis and Torres Cacoullos 2012; Carvalho, Orozco and Shin 2015). Spanish subject pronoun expression is a textbook example of variable syntax, and exploring what factors condition subject pronoun expression has become a popular topic in studies using variationist sociolinguistic methodology. The first task in variationist studies is to determine the envelope of variation, i.e. the contexts where variation may occur. For example, syntactically impersonal verbs such as meteorological verbs (e.g. llueve 'it rains') and existential verbs (e.g. hay 'there is/are') are excluded from the envelope of variation, as they do not admit pronominal subjects, with the exception of Dominican Spanish where the neuter personal pronoun ello may be