EvolutionofEnglishPersonalPronoun

【Abstract】This article studies the evolution of English personal pronoun in Great Britain and the United States. The data is collected from 14 books. The evolution is divided into three periods chronologically： the period of Old English， the period of Middle English and the period of Modern English. The results show that the evolution of English personal pronoun is the period of inflection simplification and influenced by the dialects. The paradigm of American personal pronoun has fewer changes than that of Great Britain.

【Key words】English Personal Pronoun； Old English； Middle English； Modern English

【作者簡介】刘新，海南科技职业学院。

I. Background

The evolution of English， within the history period， is a story of progressive simplification. As English is changing from synthetic to analytic language， the evolution of personal pronoun is therefore the process of inflection simplification.

As one of the Germanic sub-family of the Indo-European language， the history of English can be roughly divided into three periods： the period of Old English； the period of Middle English； the period of Modern English.

II. The period of Old English （from 450 to 1150）

Table 1 OE personal pronouns：

Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative

1st Singular I? min me（c ） me（c ）

Dual Wit uncer unc unc

Plural wé ure us us

2nd Singular ?ū ?in ?e ?e

Dual ?it incer inc inc

Plural ?ē eower eow eow

3rd Singular Masculine hē his him hine

Neuter hit his him hit

Feminine hēo hire hire hie

Plural hīe hira him hie

Table 1 shows OE personal pronouns paradigm inflects fully.

The features are： （1） It had dual number， a set of forms for two people or two things. （2） The distinction between the dual and the plural was disappearing in OE pronoun. （3） The genitives functioned as possessives， which remained uninflected. （4） The 2nd person singular forms began with “?/?-”， which is “th-” in modern English. It is the normal Late West Saxon paradigm. （5） The 3rd person forms began with “h-”.

III. The period of Middle English （from 1150 to 1500）

Table 2 Middle English personal pronouns：

Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative

1st Singular I my， myn me me

Plural we oure us us

2nd Singular thou thy， thyn thee thee

Plural ye youre yow yow

3rd Singular Masculine he his him him

Neuter hit his him hit

Feminine she hir hir hir

Plural they hir hem hem

Table 2 shows the Middle English personal pronouns have leveled inflection.

The features are： （1） when English become the national language in both spoken and written forms， it lost many inflections， and trended gradually to an analytic language. （2） The dual number existed until 13th or 14th century （3） “She” from modern English， the 3rd person singular feminine form， emerged in this period. （4） The dative and accusative pronouns were early combined into one case， that of the dative. （5） The accusative of the 3rd singular neuter pronoun （h）it became the general objective case. （6） New singular forms of the genitive in 1st and 2nd person “myn” and “thyn” had arisen. （7） the forms of the 2nd person pronoun altered. From the late 14th to the 17th century， th-form was used more informally and marked by affectivity， y-form was used more formally and gradually become neutral. （8） The old 3rd person plural forms in h- had begun to yield to a new （Scandinavian） type in p-/th-， the originals of they/their/them. （9） A new neuter genitive singular “its” was introduced. （10） The genitive functioned more like the adjective.

IV. The period of Modern English （since 1500）

Table 3 Modern English personal pronouns：

Subject Object

1st Singular I me

Plural we us

2nd Singular you you

Plural you you

3rd Singular Masculine he him

Neuter it it

Feminine she her

Plural they them

Table 3 reflects the loss of reflection of Modern English personal pronoun.

The features are： （1） English is changing from synthetic to analytic language （2） The 4 cases， nominative， genitive， dative and accusative， are lost， replaced by subject and object. Subject is the original nominative case； object is the dative and accusative. Genitive becomes possessive pronoun， which is beyond personal pronoun. （3） The confusion between the 2nd person nominatives and accusatives ye and you existed in the early modern English， and later you replaced ye in the 17th century. By the 18th century you had stood for both nominative and dative cases / numbers， with ye relegated along with thou to special registers. In these latter cases ye is only plural， and never oblique； it follows the older norm. Finally， y-form replaced th-forms and maintained in the 20th century. （4） Structurally， only the 2nd person forms do not mark number.

V. American English

It is important to note that American English compared with the standard British English is no change （Algeo 326）. However， the personal pronouns in American English are also affected by the dialects.

The features are： （1） you and thou also feature in American English. （2） The major change has been the final loss of thou/thee/thy/thine. （3） To differ the 2nd person singular and plural forms by verbs， E.g.， speakers say you was for the singular and you were for the plural. In the 18th century， the purists resisted it and you was was strongly denied in American by the end of the 19th century. （4） Ocracoke-dialect speakers delete the –s when the subject is a plural pronoun， E.g.， they like to go fishing but not they likes to go fishing （Algeo 332）. （5） To create new plural pronouns. E.g. yall （rhyming with hall）， a contracted form of you-all， is a famous example， though it is often avoided in formal contexts. （6） A different form yuz （often spelled yours， with the vowel of book）， is used in the American Midwest. （7） Another 2nd person plural pronoun， yuns （apparently from you + ones）， seemed not to be from British dialects， and is highly stigmatized as Southern， rural， mountain white speech. （8） The newest and popular form， you guys， functions as a pronoun， though it has not been regarded as a pronoun yet. （9） Pronouns typically form an NP in themselves. （10） More forms are added in the 2nd person plural pronoun： you all， yall， all-you， yiz， yous（e）， yuns， you guys， you lot， etc.（11） Most personal pronouns can be regarded as dialectal.

VI. Conclusion

The evolution of English personal pronoun in 1500 years of English history is comparatively slower. For instance， the genitive （possessive pronoun） and the dative （objective pronoun） still remain. The evolution of English personal pronoun， completed in the 17th century， is the process of inflection simplification. It is influenced by the dialects. Compared with British English personal pronoun， the paradigm of American personal pronoun changes little.

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