EvolutionofEnglishPersonalPronoun

EvolutionofEnglishPersonalPronoun【Abstract】ThisarticlestudiestheevolutionofEnglishpersonalpronouninGreatBritainandtheUnitedStates.Thedataiscollectedfrom14books.Theevolutionisdividedintothreeperiodschronologically：theperiodofOldEnglish，theperiodofMiddleEnglishandtheperiodofModernEnglish.TheresultsshowthattheevolutionofEnglishpersonalpronounistheperiodofinflectionsimplificationandinfluencedbythedialects.TheparadigmofAmericanpersonalpronounhasfewerchangesthanthatofGreatBritain.【Keywords】EnglishPersonalPronoun；OldEnglish；MiddleEnglish；ModernEnglish【作者簡介】刘新，海南科技职业学院。I.BackgroundTheevolutionofEnglish，withinthehistoryperiod，isastoryofprogressivesimplification.AsEnglishischangingfromsynthetictoanalyticlanguage，theevolutionofpersonalpronounisthereforetheprocessofinflectionsimplification.AsoneoftheGermanicsub-familyoftheIndo-Europeanlanguage，thehistoryofEnglishcanberoughlydividedintothreeperiods：theperiodofOldEnglish；theperiodofMiddleEnglish；theperiodofModernEnglish.II.TheperiodofOldEnglishfrom450to1150Table1OEpersonalpronouns：NominativeGenitiveDativeAccusative1stSingularI?minmecmecDualWitunceruncuncPluralwureusus2ndSingular?in?e?eDual?itincerincincPlural?eowereoweow3rdSingularMasculinehhishimhineNeuterhithishimhitFemininehohirehirehiePluralhehirahimhieTable1showsOEpersonalpronounsparadigminflectsfully.Thefeaturesare：1Ithaddualnumber，asetofformsfortwopeopleortwothings.2ThedistinctionbetweenthedualandthepluralwasdisappearinginOEpronoun.3Thegenitivesfunctionedaspossessives，whichremaineduninflected.4The2ndpersonsingularformsbeganwith“?/?-，whichis“th-inmodernEnglish.ItisthenormalLateWestSaxonparadigm.5The3rdpersonformsbeganwith“h-.III.TheperiodofMiddleEnglishfrom1150to1500Table2MiddleEnglishpersonalpronouns：NominativeGenitiveDativeAccusative1stSingularImy，mynmemePluralweoureusus2ndSingularthouthy，thyntheetheePluralyeyoureyowyow3rdSingularMasculinehehishimhimNeuterhithishimhitFeminineshehirhirhirPluraltheyhirhemhemTable2showstheMiddleEnglishpersonalpronounshaveleveledinflection.Thefeaturesare：1whenEnglishbecomethenationallanguageinbothspokenandwrittenforms，itlostmanyinflections，andtrendedgraduallytoananalyticlanguage.2Thedualnumberexisteduntil13thor14thcentury3“ShefrommodernEnglish，the3rdpersonsingularfeminineform，emergedinthisperiod.4Thedativeandaccusativepronounswereearlycombinedintoonecase，thatofthedative.5Theaccusativeofthe3rdsingularneuterpronounhitbecamethegeneralobjectivecase.6Newsingularformsofthegenitivein1stand2ndperson“mynand“thynhadarisen.7theformsofthe2ndpersonpronounaltered.Fromthelate14thtothe17thcentury，th-formwasusedmoreinformallyandmarkedbyaffectivity，y-formwasusedmoreformallyandgraduallybecomeneutral.8Theold3rdpersonpluralformsinh-hadbeguntoyieldtoanewScandinaviantypeinp-/th-，theoriginalsofthey/their/them.9Anewneutergenitivesingular“itswasintroduced.10Thegenitivefunctionedmoreliketheadjective.IV.TheperiodofModernEnglishsince1500Table3ModernEnglishpersonalpronouns：SubjectObject1stSingularImePluralweus2ndSingularyouyouPluralyouyou3rdSingularMasculinehehimNeuterititFemininesheherPluraltheythemTable3reflectsthelossofreflectionofModernEnglishpersonalpronoun.Thefeaturesare：1Englishischangingfromsynthetictoanalyticlanguage2The4cases，nominative，genitive，dativeandaccusative，arelost，replacdbysubjectandobject.Subjectistheoriginalnominativecase；objectisthedativeandaccusative.Genitivebecomespossessivepronoun，whichisbeyondpersonalpronoun.3Theconfusionbetweenthe2ndpersonnominativesandaccusativesyeandyouexistedintheearlymodernEnglish，andlateryoureplacedyeinthe17thcentury.Bythe18thcenturyyouhadstoodforbothnominativeanddativecases/numbers，withyerelegatedalongwiththoutospecialregisters.Intheselattercasesyeisonlyplural，andneveroblique；itfollowstheoldernorm.Finally，y-formreplacedth-formsandmaintainedinthe20thcentury.4Structurally，onlythe2ndpersonformsdonotmarknumber.V.AmericanEnglishItisimportanttonotethatAmericanEnglishcomparedwiththestandardBritishEnglishisnochangeAlgeo326.However，thepersonalpronounsinAmericanEnglisharealsoaffectedbythedialects.Thefeaturesare：1youandthoualsofeatureinAmericanEnglish.2Themajorchangehasbeenthefinallossofthou/thee/thy/thine.3Todifferthe2ndpersonsingularandpluralformsbyverbs，E.g.，speakerssayyouwasforthesingularandyouwerefortheplural.Inthe18thcentury，thepuristsresisteditandyouwaswasstronglydeniedinAmericanbytheendofthe19thcentury.4Ocracoke-dialectspeakersdeletetheswhenthesubjectisapluralpronoun，E.g.，theyliketogofishingbutnottheylikestogofishingAlgeo332.5Tocreatenewpluralpronouns.E.g.yallrhymingwithhall，acontractedformofyou-all，isafamousexample，thoughitisoftenavoidedinformalcontexts.6Adifferentformyuzoftenspelledyours，withthevowelofbook，isusedintheAmericanMidwest.7Another2ndpersonpluralpronoun，yunsapparentlyfromyou+ones，seemednottobefromBritishdialects，andishighlystigmatizedasSouthern，rural，mountainwhitespeech.8Thenewestandpopularform，youguys，functionsasapronoun，thoughithasnotbeenregardedasapronounyet.9PronounstypicallyformanNPinthemselves.10Moreformsareaddedinthe2ndpersonpluralpronoun：youall，yall，all-you，yiz，youse，yuns，youguys，youlot，etc.11Mostpersonalpronounscanberegardedasdialectal.VI.ConclusionTheevolutionofEnglishpersonalpronounin1500yearsofEnglishhistoryiscomparativelyslower.Forinstance，thegenitivepossessivepronounandthedativeobjectivepronounstillremain.TheevolutionofEnglishpersonalpronoun，completedinthe17thcentury，istheprocessofinflectionsimplification.Itisinfluencedbythedialects.ComparedwithBritishEnglishpersonalpronoun，theparadigmofAmericanpersonalpronounchangeslittle.References：【1】蔡昌卓.美國英语史M.北京：北京大学出版社，2020.【2】戴炜栋，何兆熊.新编简明英语语言学教程M.上海：上海外语教育出版社，2020.【3】李赋宁.英语史M.北京：商务印书馆，2020.【4】张道真.实用英语语法M.北京：商务印书馆，1991.【5】Algeo，John.TheCambridgeHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage.Vol.VI：EnglishinNorthAmerica.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress.【6】Baugh，AlbertC.andCable，Thomas.AHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage.Beijing：ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress，2020.【7】Crystal，David.EnglishasaGlobalLanguage.Beijing：ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress，2020.8Fennell，BarbaraA.AHistoryofEnglishASociolinguisticApproach.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress，2020.9Lass，Roger.TheCambridgeHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage.Vol.III：1476-1776.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress.10Mitchell，BruceandRobinson，FredC.AGuidetoOldEnglish.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress，2020.11Freeborn，Dennis.FromOldEnglishtoStandardEnglish.Beijing：ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress，2000.12Tottie，Gunnel.AnIntroductiontoAmericanEnglish.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress，2020.13Romaine，Suzanne.TheCambridgeHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage.Vol.IV：1776-1997.Beijing：BeijingUniversityPress.