Personal pronouns

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A personal pronoun (plural: -pronomen or -pronomina, from latin personal pronoun ; German and personal pronoun ) is in the grammar is a pronoun , the party to the speech situation referred to or anaphorically relates to a third party. In German it is

  • me for the speaker.
  • you , plural you , form of courtesy you for the addressee (s) .
  • he, she, es , plural them for people or things that are additionally present in the speaking situation or that can be determined by their previous mention in the text . Another use is as a tied pronoun .

The name comes from the fact that these three so-called personal characteristics “1./2./3. Person ”(and little else). Even if “personal pronouns” often refer to “persons”, pronouns that refer to inanimate objects can also fall under it.

Personal pronouns usually appear in the same places in the sentence as (definite) full noun phrases , with the exception of their function as an adverbial determination - mainly as a subject or object . However, the counterpart to genitive in the function of a possessor is often a possessive pronoun instead of a genitive of the personal pronoun.

Stressed and unstressed forms

This article only deals with pronouns that form independent words. In many languages, however, there are pronouns in two forms: as independent, stressed and as dependent, unstable pronouns. Such unstable pronouns are often directly based on a verb in pronunciation (as a so-called clitika ). They then form a prosodic unit with him in the flow of speech , almost like an inflectional ending. Clitization is a common occurrence in personal pronouns. For a detailed description of a system of clitic personal pronouns see e.g. B. the article on the Spanish pronominal system .

In languages ​​with a system of clitic pronouns, the independent pronouns dealt with here are only used for emphasis ( emphasis ), for contrast and in utterances without predicate:

"Do you want to speak to me or him ?"
"Who threw the stone?" - " You!" ... "He!"

Features of personal pronouns and special cases

The characteristic person

Personal pronouns are classified according to the grammatical category person , which the pronouns

  • the 1st person (speaker),
  • the 2nd person (addressee) or
  • the 3rd person (neither speaker nor addressee)

allocates. When dividing the pronominal reference into these three personal characteristics, some problem and special cases arise, which are briefly outlined here.

Special features of the pronoun wir

While the 2nd and 3rd person can be put in the plural without difficulty , the 1st person is a special case here. Although the pronoun we grammatically counts as the plural of I, it does not literally denote a plurality of speakers (e.g. a choir). Instead, the first person plural denotes any group that includes the speaker. This can be understood in such a way that the meaning of "we" actually corresponds to a combination of 1st + 2nd person or 1st + 3rd person. Accordingly, some languages ​​differentiate in the plural between “inclusive” and “exclusive we” , depending on whether the speaker includes or excludes the addressee in the designated group. It is estimated that 40% of all languages ​​know this distinction.

Some languages ​​also derive this from an extended plural condition in which a third person or several third persons can optionally be excluded. In the German language there is only the reinforcement “we both go to the cinema” as a correspondence in order to exclude third persons. In addition to a distinction between singular and plural, there is also a declination of personal pronouns with the number dual , rarely also trial , which are used to include other people.

Logophoric pronouns

In indirect speech there can be cases in which a third person pronoun also indirectly denotes a speaker, i.e. H. the speaker of the reported statement. Some languages ​​designate this case with special pronouns (logophoric pronouns). These can either be forms that contrast with normal personal pronouns, or special uses of reflexive pronouns. Logophoricity is not treated as an independent feature of personal pronouns in this article, see the main article instead.

Gradations according to the proximity / distance of a third person are included in this article, see below under the heading "Deixis".

The pronoun man

The German pronoun man is used when designating an individual or a group who is taken for granted without being made identifiable for the listener.

  • Example:
„Wenn man in Australien unterwegs ist, kann man oft Kängurus auf der Straße sehen.“
(= Wer auch immer in Australien unterwegs ist, kann Kängurus auf der Straße sehen.)

Pronouns of this type are traditionally classified as indefinite pronouns , but since they have some properties that actually contradict the classification as indefinite, they are sometimes referred to in the specialist literature as "generalizing pronouns" and are listed as a separate class.

There are languages ​​in which the “general pronouns” and the personal pronouns behave in parallel in that this category also exists in the conjugation of the verbs; one then speaks of impersonal verb forms . This is the case in Irish , e.g. B. the verb bris- "break" forms the following forms: brisim "I break", brisir "you break", (etc), bristear "man breaks". (More on this under Irish language # Verbs ).

In German, however, the pronoun man is combined with the 3rd person singular of the corresponding verb form. In terms of meaning , however , one is not simply a 3rd person; in many uses it includes the speaker in the statement. It also has other grammatical and semantic peculiarities, which is why it is not included in the presentation of the various systems of personal pronouns in this article. See the main article linked above instead.

Different systems of personal pronouns in the languages ​​of the world

In addition to the main differentiation according to grammatical persons, personal pronouns in many languages ​​are also differentiated according to secondary grammatical and semantic categories, including gender , as in German ( personal pronouns of the Germanic languages ), but not always according to them.

Differentiation according to animation

The Animatheit ( category of animacy ) is a semantic category on the distinction between nouns that animate (from the Latin anima call "soul"), against such nouns denoting inanimate. These include primarily people in the broad sense but also personifications, gods, ghosts and other supernatural beings and provided with human features animals, plants and objects (eg. As in fables or poems) as animat (animated), all the rest as inanimat (inanimate).

One language that offers an example of this differentiation is the northern Siberian Turkic language, Yakut :

Yakut: system of personal pronouns
Animation Singular Plural
1 min bihigi
2 en ehigi
3 animat kini kiniler
inanimat oil ollor
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
The following is unassigned and sounds like "theory finding". It would also be conceivable that one can address inanimate / inanimate things with "you" without imagining them animate / animated - even if that may seem "idiotic".

In the case of the third person, not a few languages ​​in the world distinguish the object according to animativity. There is no example language for such a distinction in the 1st or 2nd person. This could be related to the fact that all linguistic reference objects that can take on the role of speaker (1st person) or addressed (2nd person) are expected to be animated. Animativity does not necessarily mean that the reference object has to be animated in a scientific sense or animated in a metaphysical understanding, but only that each reference object is assigned a speaking role (1st person) or the role of the person addressed (2nd person) , in a certain sense is considered to be able to communicate and perceive for the author of this assignment.

Examples: When a poet speaks to a flower or an angry consumer speaks to his broken television set, these people imagine the objects in question to be able to communicate, at least at the moment of speaking; otherwise they would not address them with a 2nd person pronoun (like "you").

Differentiation according to respect

Many languages ​​with personal pronouns differentiate according to the category respect - that is, different pronouns are used for the address, depending on whether the addressee is close to the speaker or not. Very often, however, there is no special form of politeness , but this is created by addressing a single person using the 2nd person plural, while the 2nd person singular is restricted to the family address.

Finnish is an example of such a language

Finnish: system of personal pronouns
person respect Singular Plural
1 minä me
2 family sinä te
distant Te
3 han hey

For the 2nd person, Persian shows the same system; However, it also differentiates in the 3rd person for animata according to politeness:

Persian: system of personal pronouns
person respect Singular Plural
1 man mâ
2 family to šomâ
distant šomâ
3 family animates u ânhâ
inanimate on
distant and formal vey, išân išân

Family pronouns are always used for Inanimata; only Animata (especially people) differentiate according to respect.

Hungarian differentiated in the 2nd person according to the category respect:

Hungarian: system of personal pronouns
person respect Singular Plural
1 én mi
2 family te ti
distant maga maguk
polite ön önök
3 O O

Differentiation according to Deixis

Many languages ​​differentiate in the 3rd grammatical person after deixis , for example Georgian :

  • proximal means closer to the speaker than to other people in the speech act,
  • distal further away from the speaker than from others.

However, there is also one

  • medial pronoun, e.g. B. for linguistic reference objects outside the speaker's field of perception, or from the same distance from everyone involved in the speech act .

In the plural this distinction is canceled:

Georgian: system of personal pronouns
person respect Singular Plural
1 me tšven
2 family šen tkven
distant tkven
3 proximal it isini
medial eg
distal is

Differentiation according to respect and deixis

There are three levels of respect in the Hindi and Urdu varieties of the Hindustani language :

  • intimate (for small children and close friends),
  • familial (for younger and lower hierarchical people) and
  • distant (for older or hierarchically higher-ranking people).

The singular form of the higher level serves as the plural form for the lower level. This leads to ambiguities in the plural use of the 2nd person, which in turn can be avoided by using new plural forms. These new plurals are Klitisierung of log "people" or sab created "all" of the old plural forms - a phenomenon that also occurs in English (see below.).

Hindustani: system of personal pronouns
person secondary category Singular Plural reinforced plural
1 May ham
2 respect intimate tū tum
family tum tum log / tum sab
distant āp āp log / āp sab
3 Deixis proximal Yah ye
distal vah ve

In addition, there are two different 3rd person pronouns which, from the speaker's point of view, differentiate between near ( proximal ) and far ( distal ). In colloquial language, these are not differentiated into singular and plural, but form a number-indifferent unit form ye (proximal) and vo (distal).

Especially in Urdu, the use of mãi is considered impolite. Instead, you use ham to speak of yourself. This is a plural of humility .

The pronominal system of Nepalese is even more differentiated:

Nepalese: system of personal pronouns
person Deixis respect Singular Plural reinforced plural
1 ma hāmī hāmīharū
2 intimate tã taharu
family timī timīharū
distant tapāī̃ tapāī̃harū
3 proximal intimate yo yī
family yinī yinīharū
distant yahā̃ yahā̃harū
medial intimate ū
family University unīharū
distant vahā̃ vahā̃harū
distal intimate tyo tī
family tinī tinīharū

Plural reinforcement

Even the Turkish and other Turkic languages tend to plural gain, however, can also affect the first person:

Turkish: system of personal pronouns
person respect Singular Plural reinforced plural
1 ben biz bizler
2 family sen siz sizler
distant siz
3 O onlar

The reason for the strengthening of the plural lies here (as in Hindustani, see above, and in English , see below) in the number indifference of the 2nd person.

Differentiation according to gender

Many languages ​​that divide nouns into genera also differentiate in the 3rd person according to this category. Since the pronouns of the 3rd person, unlike those of the 1st and 2nd person, often refer to preceding noun phrases , a formal differentiation according to gender often helps to make this reference clear. Differentiation of pronouns according to gender is familiar from the European languages ​​(more precisely the Indo-European languages ), but is not particularly common in the global language comparison. Typical pleasure languages ​​with such a pronominal system are Latin and Icelandic :

Latin: system of personal pronouns
person genus Singular Plural
1 ego nos
2 tū vōs
3 masculine is egg
feminine ea eae
neuter id ea
Icelandic: system of personal pronouns
person genus Singular Plural
1 ég við
2 þú þið
3 masculine hann þeir
feminine hún þær
neuter það þau

As genus across plural form (for example, the reference to mixed-sex groups), the neutral form is often in Icelandic Thau used.

Differentiation according to sex

Languages ​​without sex distinction

Many languages ​​(partly originally) do not distinguish between the pronoun of the 3rd person singular and the gender of the speaker :

Some examples of such languages are:

Due to the influence of European languages, some of the above languages ​​have introduced a feminine pronoun.

In standard Chinese, for example, this has been done by using a different character (她) for the pronoun of the feminine third person singular (German “she”) since the beginning of the 20th century. The pronunciation remains identical to that of the pronoun of the male (originally gender-neutral) 3rd person singular (他), so that this distinction does not exist or is not recognizable in the spoken language. Furthermore, 它 is used in the People's Republic of China for animals and things. Outside of the People's Republic of China, 它 for things, 祂 for gods and 牠 for animals. All of these characters are pronounced tā . In Taiwan, 妳 is used as a feminine counterpart to the general 2nd person pronoun 你. Both characters are pronounced nǐ .

A special phenomenon is the possibility of colloquial English to use the third person plural if the gender is unknown. ( If somebody took my book, They had better give it back → "If someone my book has taken, so they should prefer to return").

Sexual distinction languages

Semitic languages usually have two genera: masculine and feminine. Usually, the assignment is made by people to these genera, usually by their biological or social gender , and so there is no gender / sex-rejection as in English, where girls and Miss Neutra are, but relate to persons of the female sex.

The Hebrew about differentiated primarily by gender (namely in the third person). However, a distinction is made in the 2nd person according to the biological sex of the addressee:

Hebrew: system of personal pronouns
person secondary category Singular Plural
1 ˀani ˀanaxnu
2 Sex male ˀata breath
Female at ˀaten
3 genus masculine hu hem
feminine Hi hen

The high Arab has a very similar system, but knows additional special dual forms :

Standard Arabic: system of personal pronouns
person secondary category Singular dual Plural
1 ˀanā (أنا) naḥnu (نحن)
2 Sex male ˀanta (أنت) ˀantumā (أنتما) ˀantum (أنتم)
Female ˀanti (أنت) ˀantunna (أنتنّ)
3 genus masculine huwa (هو) humā (هما) hum (هم) '
feminine hiya (هي) hunna (هنّ)

In the Arabic colloquial language , however, the dual forms are not used, and the special plural forms for feminine gender and female sex are also not used in many varieties of the Arabic language.

Differentiation according to animation and sex

For example, a language in whose pronominal system the sex category is subordinate to the animativity category is English. Here the third person's personal pronouns he and she indicate the gender identity .

English: System of Personal Pronouns
person Animation Sex Singular Plural Strengthened plural (colloquial language)
1 I. we
2 you you's / youse,
y'all (USA), you lot (UK),
you guys (USA, AU, NZ)
3 animates male hey they
Female she
inanimate it

As in Hindustani (see above), there is also a tendency in colloquial English to develop a new plural form for the personal pronoun of the 2nd person - however, there are many regional variants, none of which have been established supra-regionally in the standard language .

There are also exceptions to the differentiation according to animation: Ships, cars and the moon can be referred to as she and the sun as he . Animals are generally considered to be inanimate; Pets you know can be called she or he . As in many other languages, there is also a plural of majesty when the Queen speaks.

Differentiation according to gender and sex

In Dutch in the Netherlands - but to a lesser extent in Belgium - a distinction is no longer made between masculine and feminine nouns; rather, both genera are fused into one genus utrum . Historically, this utrum arose from the old masculine and is therefore formally identical with it. So in contemporary Dutch, the formerly purely masculine pronoun hij is also used as an anaphor for formerly feminine nouns: 

ältere Schriftsprache:
 de regering → zij („die Regierung“ → „sie“)
heutige Umgangssprache:
 de regering → hij („die Regierung“ → „er“)

The pronoun zij is therefore only used in the singular in the semantic core area of ​​the feminine gender, i.e. female persons.

Dutch: system of personal pronouns
person secondary category (→) tertiary category Singular Plural
1 ik wij
2 respect family jij jullie
distant u
3 genus † masculine → utrum hij zij
Sex male
† feminine → Female
 zij
neuter het

The Dutch pronominal system of the 3rd person is therefore on the way from a pure pleasure system (masculine / feminine / neuter) to a combined sex / gender system (utrum / neutrum vs. male / female), as it is in the mainland Scandinavian languages ​​(cf. . below) Danish , Swedish and Norwegian (in the Bokmål variety) already exist:

  • Nouns that designate something animated are pronominalized according to sex (i.e. according to the natural gender of the person designated).
  • Nouns that denote the inanimate are pronominalized according to gender (i.e. according to the grammatical gender of the respective noun).

The example language is Swedish:

Swedish: system of personal pronouns
person secondary category → tertiary
category 		Singular Plural
1 hunt vi
2 you ni
3 animat → Sex male han de
Female hon
gender neutral hen
inanimat → genus utrum the
neuter det

The difference to Dutch is that this language has not developed an independent uterum pronoun; Instead, the former masculine hij combines the function of the inanimate utrum (Swedish den ) and the male-animated pronoun (Swedish han ) in one form.

Differentiation according to gender and respect

An example of a complex pronominal system with several secondary subdifferentiations is shown in standard German , which differentiates in the 3rd person according to the three genera and in the 2nd person according to the respect categories familiar and distant :

German: System of personal pronouns
person secondary
category 		Singular Plural
1 I we
2 respect family you her
distant she
3 genus masculine he she
feminine she
neuter it
Russian: system of personal pronouns
person secondary
category 		Singular Plural
1 Yes my
2 respect family ty vy
distant Vy
3 genus masculine on oni
feminine ona
neuter ono

The Russian language shows a pronominal system very similar to German - only the politeness pronoun does not have its etymological origin in the 3rd person plural, but (as in the case of Turkish, see above) in the 2nd person plural. Like German, Russian cannot differentiate politeness according to number.

In Dutch there is initially the same pronominal system as in German and Russian; However, an independent politeness pronoun u has developed here, which is not formally similar to any other pronoun (see above).

The Lithuanian has not only an independent pronoun for distanced title, but also a distinct plural form:

Lithuanian: system of personal pronouns
person secondary
category 		Singular Plural
1 àš mẽs
2 respect family tù jṹs
distant Jṹs
támsta támstos
3 genus masculine jìs jiẽ
feminine jì jõs

In addition, however, the 2nd person plural is also used for the distanced form of address, which can probably be explained by the influence of the neighboring languages.

In the daughter languages ​​of Latin, such as Spanish , the pronominal system ( personal pronouns ) was complicated by various subdifferentiations according to sex and respect:

Spanish: system of personal pronouns
person respect genus Singular Plural
1 male yo nosotros
Female nosotras
2 intimate male vos
Female
family male tú vosotros
Female vosotras
distant Usted Ustedes
3 masculine él ellos
feminine ella ellas
neuter ello ---

However, the number of genera in the successor language of Latin has fallen to two due to the coincidence of masculine and neuter. The pronoun ello therefore does not serve as an anaphor for the inclusion of nouns (since there are no more neutrals), but only for the inclusion of sentences and similar abstracts.

The Romanian language shows a particularly complex system of politeness , which not only has three degrees of respect in terms of address (2nd person), but also in reference to a 3rd person:

Romanian: system of personal pronouns
person respect Gender / Sex Singular Plural
1 eu noi
2 family do voi
weakly distant Dumneata
very distant Dumneavoastră
3 family Genus
(Sexus
in Animata) 		masculine el egg
feminine ea ele
weakly distant Sexus
(Animata only) 		male dânsul dânşii
Female dânsa dânsele
very distant male dumnealui dumnealor
Female dumneaei

The decision as to which degree of respect is used depends on many sociolinguistic parameters, such as the age and gender of the person who is caregiver, but also on the level of awareness and social relationship with the speaker. There are also many regional differences. In general, it can be said that women and older people are referred to with a higher degree of respect than men and younger people.

Differentiation according to gender and deixis

This article or section needs to be revised: on the other hand, there is the thesis that Latin etc. have no pronouns of the 3rd person. but use demonstrations.
Please help to improve it and then remove this mark.

The two Indo-European languages, ancient Greek and Sanskrit , which were documented early on, show clear parallels in their pronominal system, which therefore also suggest the Indo-European original language : They both differentiate in the third person not only according to gender, but also according to deixis , i.e. according to the removal of the linguistic Reference object to the speaker. A form of politeness or other differentiations of respect are not known in Greek or in early Sanskrit.

Ancient Greek: system of personal pronouns
person Deixis genus Singular Plural
1 ego hēmeĩs
2 sú hūmeĩs
3 proximal masculine hóde hoíde
feminine hḗde haíde
neuter Deaths táde
medial masculine hoũtos hoũtoi
feminine haútē haũtai
neuter toũto taũta
distal masculine ekeínos ekeínoi
feminine ekeínē ekeínes
neuter ekeíno ekeína
Sanskrit: system of personal pronouns
person Deixis genus Singular dual Plural
1 aham āvām vayam
2 tvam yuvām yūyam
3 proximal masculine ayam imau ime
feminine iyam ime imās
neuter idam ime imāni
medial masculine sás dew té
feminine sā́ té tā́s
neuter did té tā́ni
distal masculine asau amū amī
feminine asau amū amūs
neuter adas amū amūni

In Sanskrit, the dual to be assumed for the Indo-European original language is preserved, in ancient Greek, however, only in the oldest texts, especially in Homer . There the pronouns are νώ ( nṓ, both of us) for the 1st person, σφώ ( sphṓ, both of you) for the 2nd person, and τώ ( tṓ, both of you) for the 3rd person.

Classical Sanskrit knows the word bhavan as “you” with the verb in the 1st person singular (dual: bhavantau, plural: bhanvantaḥ ). In terms of form, this is a participle and is traditionally not counted as a personal pronoun.

Differentiation according to deixis and animation

In Greenlandic , personal pronouns are rarely used as independent words, namely only to emphasize a person or thing or to indicate such (deixis). In the 3rd person, a distinction is made between deixis and animativity as follows:

Greenlandic: system of personal pronouns
person secondary (and tertiary) category Singular Plural
1 uanga uagood
2 illit ilissi
3 Deixis proximal → Animation animat una uku
inanimat manna makku
distal innga ikku

Special forms of calls

In addition to differentiated forms of politeness towards the individual addressed in the Respect category, the Tigrin language also has special vocative forms of personal pronouns that serve the speaking act of the call - i.e. if the pronoun is not syntactically linked to a verb and is therefore not included in a sentence. This is only possible for pronouns of the 2nd person, as a call is always directed to one or more addressees :

Tigrin: system of personal pronouns
person Sex Singular Plural
(Non-vocative)
respect 		vocative Non-vocative vocative
family distant
1 anä --- nǝḥǝna ---
2 male nǝssǝxa nǝssǝxum atta! nǝssǝxatkum attum!
Female nǝssǝxi nǝssǝxǝn atti! nǝssǝxatkǝn attan!
3 male nǝssu nǝssom --- nǝssatom ---
Female nǝssa nǝssän --- nǝssatän ---

There is a parallel in English, where sir! and madam! (or ma'am! ) act as pure call nouns, d. H. cannot be used in a sentence. However, these forms, which differ according to the gender of the addressee, are limited to polite, distant calls:

English: system of salutation (pro) nomina
(only 2nd person)
Sex Singular
Non-vocative vocative
family distant
male you you! sir!
Female madam!
ma'am!

Although sir and madam are not originally pronouns, but nouns - this also applies to the Polish politeness pronoun pan / pani (see next chapter), which is used in the Slavic languages Czech , Slovak and Ukrainian continues to be used as a noun meaning 'Herr' / 'Frau / Dame'. Another argument in favor of evaluating sir and madam as pronouns is that they no longer have a regular plural like other nouns: * sirs, * madams . The original French plural form mesdames is usually suppletiv by ladies! replaced; the masculine plural form is: gentlemen!

Further differentiations

Polish has a particularly complex system of personal pronouns , which differentiates according to sex in the politeness form of the 2nd person, including in the plural:

Polish: system of personal pronouns
person secondary (and tertiary) category Singular Plural
1 Yes my
2 respect family ty wy
distant → Sex male pan panowie
Female pani panie
mixed --- państwo
3 genus masculine on oni
feminine ona one
neuter ono

In the Chinese language, a distinction is made between the categories of animation and sex only in writing, not in the spoken language. The distinction in writing is based on the influence of the English language (see above: he - she - it ) and only arose in the 20th century:

Chinese: system of personal pronouns
secondary
category 		tertiary category Singular Plural
Chinese
(writing) 		Pinyin
(pronunciation) 		Chinese
(writing) 		Pinyin
(pronunciation)
1 我 Where 我们 warm
2 respect family 你 nĭ 你们 take
distant 您 nín
3 Animation animat human male 他 tā 他们 tāmen
Female 她 她们
not human 它 它们
inanimat distance proximal 这 zhè 这些 zhèxiē
distal 那 n / A 那些 nàxiē

The plural forms of the 3rd person for Inanimata are not compulsory - optionally the corresponding singular forms can also be used in sound and writing.

Case forms

When creating case forms , pronouns often show a change between different stems ( i.e. suppletion ). For example, the declension of the personal pronouns in standard German looks like this:

number person genus Nominative
(= 1st case) 		Accusative
(= 4th case) 		Dative
(= 3rd case) 		Genitive
(= 2nd case)
Singular 1 I me me mine
2 you you to you yours
3 m. he him him his
n. it
f. she her of their
Plural 1 we us our
2 her to you your
3 she them of their
2 or 3 she them Of their

Personal pronouns in the genitive ("I think of her .") Are strongly reminiscent of possessive pronouns ("I think of her failure."), But should not be confused with them. The former are used less and less in today's German, especially in spoken language. For example, "I am ashamed of you." Is replaced by the prepositional phrase "I am ashamed of you."

In the English language , too, there are two forms for subject and object (I, me and we, us) for the personal pronouns of the first person singular and plural .

Languages ​​without personal pronouns

The Japanese is an example of a language in which there is no personal pronouns in the strict sense. The short form of a noun is then used to replace a noun, for example its rank ("The lieutenant Meier said something, then the lieutenant went" instead of "then he went"). While the small number of personal pronouns is used very frequently in European languages, it does not appear in these Far Eastern languages, instead many different word forms are used pronominally, depending on the gender and social rank of the person addressed. This also applies to the I / We forms, a police officer would describe himself as honkan (“this officer”), the word closest to the personal pronoun “I” would be watakushi (私, literally “private”).

Persian had a similar tendency in the 16th to 19th centuries . In addition to close acquaintances, one spoke of oneself as bande (“the slave”) or in haqir (“this poor man”), and of others as ân hazrat (“that master”) etc. In the meantime this has been reversed, and even duzen happens. In correspondence, however, this custom has largely been preserved.

Pragmatics

In parts of the English-speaking world, especially in universities, the custom is spreading that people introduce themselves not only by name but also by their preferred gender pronouns (PGP). H. with those personal pronouns that you would like to use when other people talk about them ( anaphoric ). Deviations from the traditional pronouns ( she - her - hers , he - him - his ) are mainly chosen by people who describe themselves as genderqueers . Then PGPs such as B. ze-hir-hirs stated.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Personal pronouns  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Snježana Kordić : Personal and reflexive pronouns as carriers of personality . In: Helmut Jachnow , Nina Mečkovskaja, Boris Norman, Bronislav Plotnikov (eds.): Personality and Person (=  Slavic study books ). nF, Vol. 9. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04141-2 , p. 146 ( PDF file; 2.8 MB [accessed July 2, 2010]).
  2. ↑ z. B. Duden. The grammar. 8th edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim 2009, p. 320.
  3. ↑ Online grammar Grammis 2.0, IDS Mannheim
  4. ↑ Sweden adds gender-neutral pronoun to dictionary ( en ) The Guardian. March 24, 2015. Accessed June 2, 2017.
  5. ↑ What the heck is a “PGP”? Retrieved August 7, 2018 . Sassafras Lowrey: A Guide To Non-binary Pronouns And Why They Matter. In: Huffingtonpost. November 8, 2017, accessed August 7, 2018 .