Lecture 12 the Pronoun 1. The Problem of Singling out the Pronoun as a Separate Part of Speech. 2. Subclasses of Pronouns: a) Traditional Classification Based on Meaning; b)Functional Classification. 3. Morphological Features of the Pronoun. 4. Syntactic Characteristics of the Pronoun. 5. Words of Broad Meaning and Their Pronominal Features.
1. The Problem of Singling out the Pronoun as a Separate Part of Speech Categorial meaning: deixis. The pronouns I, you, he, etc. , though pointing to things and in so far resembling nouns, cannot as a rule be modified by adjectives. These pronouns differ from nouns in that they cannot be connected with any article, or modified by a prepositional phrase.
Morphological Composition Simple pronouns (the stem): I, you; this, that; all, one, etc. Compound pronouns (more than one stem): myself, somebody, no one, nothing, etc. Composite pronouns (phrase): each other, one another.
2. Subclasses of Pronouns: a) Traditional Classification 1) personal, 2) possessive, 7) reciprocal, 3) reflexive, 8) indefinite, 4) demonstrative, 9) negative, 5) interrogative, 10) generalizing, 6) connective, 11) quantitative, 12) contrasting.
Personal Pronouns Nucleus of the class I (me), thou (thee), he (him), she (her), it, we (us), you, they (them). The personal pronouns serve to indicate all persons and things from the point of view of the speaker All the personal pronouns are said to be noun pronouns or pro nouns
Possessive Pronouns Possessive pronouns are usually treated as adjective pronouns, whereas they are in reality noun pro nouns or pro-nouns Possessive pronouns are possessive case opposites of the personal pronouns Two sets of pos sessive pronouns — the onjoint c possessive pronouns my, thy, her, our, your, their and the absolute possessive pronouns mine, thine, ours, yours, theirs. The pairs my — mine, thy — thine, our — ours, your — yours, etc. can be regarded as opposemes of a grammatical category. It resem bles the category of case.
Reflexive Pronouns They are compound noun pronouns whose second 'element self expresses the anaphorical relation of the first element, i. e. it shows that the first element refers to the person mentioned previously in the sentence. I. . . myself, thou. . thyself, he (or John). . . himself, she (or Mary). . . herself, it (or bird). itself, we. . ourselves, you. . . your self(yourselves), they (or the chidren). . . themselves, one. . . oneself. The reflexive pronouns distinguish the lexico grammatical meanings of person, number and gender. Some linguists are of the opinion that in myself — ourselves, yourself— yourselves number is expressed grammati cally. These pronouns are used to form the so called reflexive voice.
Demonstrative Pronouns The pronouns this (these), that (those), such and (the) same are regarded as demonstrative. But this small group is not homogeneous. The pronouns this — that (these — those) are correlative. The pronouns such and (the) same have no correlative pronouns.
Interrogative Pronouns The meaning that unites the interrogative pronouns: "an inquiry" about some object (what, who), its properties (whose, which, what), place of some event (where), its time (when), cause (why), manner of existence (how). This group embraces pro nouns (what, who, which, whose), pro adjectives (what, which) and pro adverbs (where, when, why, how). Who and what are regularly used to distinguish "persons" and "non persons". The pronoun who is the only interrogative pronoun which has a case opposite, whom, as in Whom did you meet? But! There is a distinct tendency to substi tute the nominative case (who) for the objective (whom), which may eventually bring about the obliteration of case distinctions in the interrogative pronouns.
Connective Pronouns The pronouns who, what, which, whose, that, where, when, why, how are called 'connective' when they serve to connect clauses in complex sentences. At the same time they retain their meanings and functions of pro nouns, pro adjectives or pro adverbs. This combination of functions is a typi cal feature of the connective pronouns. In accordance with their meaning and the types of clauses they introduce they fall into two groups: conjunctive pro nouns and elative pronouns. r
Reciprocal Pronouns These are the group pronouns — each other and one another. They serve to express mutuality. It is traditionally maintained that each other implies only two and one another more than two, but this rule is often ignored, one another and each other becoming interchange able. The reciprocal pronouns share the noun case system. Common case Possessive case each other — each other's one another — one another's
Indefinite Pronouns This class includes some, any, every, no (and their compounds), all, each, either, much, many, few, little, etc. , words of different lexical and grammatical nature. V. N. Zhigadlo, P. Ivanova and L. L. lofik suppose that only the pronouns some, any and their compounds really indicate things, properties, etc. in an indefinite way. They can be used as pro nouns (some, somebody), pro adjectives (some, each), as pro adverbs (some)
Negative Pronouns The negative pronouns are no, nobody's, none, nothing, neither, nowhere. They can be used as pro nouns (nobody, nobody's, none, neither, nothing), pro adjectives (no, neither), as a pro adverb (nowhere) and a pro numeral (none). E. g. How many have you caught? — Nine as yet. The negative pronouns serve to build up negative sentences.
Like the other pronouns in body, one, and thing the negative pronouns distinguish 'person' and 'non person' Neither refers both to animate and inanimate objects (two of them). In neither case can I agree. Both smil°d but neither spoke (Heyer). Nobody — nobody's is a case opposeme of the noun type.
Generalizing pronouns Such pronouns as all, both, each, either, every and its compounds (everyone, everybody, every thing, everywhere) which give a generalizing indication of persons, things, properties and circumstances. This group includes pro nouns (all, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything); pro adjectives and pro numerals (every, each, all, both, either); pro adverb (every where). All, everybody, everything, everywhere, both may be said to have an inclusive, uniting meaning as opposed to every, each, either conveying a separating meaning '.
Quantitative Pronouns Here belong much, many, (a) few, (a) little, several, enough They may function as pro nouns (much, many, (a) few, several, (a) little, enough); pro adjectives (much, (a) little, enough); pro numerals (many, several, (a) few); and pro adverbs (much, (a) little, enough). Most quantitative pronouns form opposemes of comparison: many – more, the most few – fewer, the fewest little – less, the least
Contrasting Pronouns Here belonged/ (others, other's, others'), another (another's) and otherwise. They are united by the meaning "not the (object, property, circumstance) indicated" and contrast therefore with the demonstrative pronouns: This, that (book)— another (book) these, those (books) — other (books) these, those — others thus, so — otherwise. Other, others, other's, another's are used as pronouns, other and another as pro adjectives, and otherwise as a pro adverb.
When the pro noun other denotes inanimate things, it has only a number opposite, others, like nouns of the book type. When it denotes persons, it has also a case opposite, other's, like nouns of the boy type. Another peculiarity of other is its combinability. Like a noun it may be used with the definite article or a demonstrative pronoun.
One At least three variants of this pronoun: 1) an indefinite pronoun, 2) an indefinite personal or generalizing personal pronoun, 3) a prop word. As an indefinite pronoun it is usually a pro adjective with the meaning "a certain" and refers to both living beings and inanimate things. As an indefinite or generalizhig personal pronoun one indicates only a person. It is a pro noun. It has a case opposite one's and is correlated with the reflexive pronoun oneself. Sometimes one serves to disguise the speaker, as in О п e just can't throw о п e' s self respect to the dogs because of this sandy haired boy. (Williamson).
b) Functional Classification All classes of pronouns are not united by common morphological or syntactical characteristics. They constitute a separate class of words with peculiar meanings and references to the world of reality. All of them are of double nature, as they combine their peculiar meanings with certain properties of definite parts of speech.
Adjectives Numerals Adverbs Pronouns Nouns
3. Morphological Features of the Pronoun Case B. A. Ilyish: Nomin. I he she (it) we (you) they who Obj. me him her (it) us (you) them whom Genitive somebody’s, anybody’s, one’s, another’s
M. Y. Blokh: Personal pronominal system of cases has completely disintegrated, and in its place the four individual word types of pronouns have appeared: the nominative form the objective form the possessive form (conjoint and absolute).
Number this/ these that / those other / others (if not used before a noun) The pronouns I / we; he, she, it / they have no grammatical category of number.
4. Syntactic Characteristics of the Pronoun Personal Pronouns The nominative form: subject of the sentence predicative in the compound nominal predicate in sentences like: It was I who did it. Both the nominative and the objective case forms are used after the conjunctions as and than in comparative constructions: She is taller than I / me.
The objective form: object (with or without a preposition); occasionally as an attribute in prepositional phrases: Give me your hand; Were you speaking about me? ; The better half of me protested.
Possessive Pronouns I raised my eyebrows. He rose up and put his hands in his small pockets. Mine is a beautiful garden. This book is hers.
Reflexive Pronouns Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. (apposition) I have all kinds of beautiful sentiments myself. (apposition) I learned to dress myself many years ago. (direct object)
“How well you talk, ” said the Miller’s wife pouring herself a large glass of warm ale. (indirect object) She talks only about herself. (prepositional object)
My wife and myself welcome you, sir. (subject) In some minutes she became herself again. (predicative) She showed me a large picture of herself as a bride. (attribute) My brother was a Robbins like myself. (adverbial modifier of comparison) He lived in a tiny cottage all by himself. (adverbial modifier of manner)
Reciprocal Pronouns Reciprocal pronouns in their common form function as objects: Now they hate each other. They often quarrelled with one another. The possessive forms are used as attributes: They stood silent, in each other’s arms.
Demonstrative Pronouns Syntactically the pronouns this and that can be subject, predicative, object, or attribute. This was my old dear car again. His story was like that. Do you remember this? The woods are so beautiful at this time of year.
Indefinite Pronouns Function as noun pronouns Something unexpected always happened to him. Let somebody bring me a glass of water. Did somebody call me up? One is used as subject and attribute (in the genitive case) One never knows what may happen. One’s thoughts should be kept to oneself.
Negative Pronouns I told him nothing. None were present at the meeting. I remember none of the stories. It looked like nobody’s home.
Contrasting Pronouns One of the girls was pretty, while the other was terribly plain. He gulped one cup, then another. I live on the other side.
Universal Pronouns Function as noun pronouns All were present. All night long she sat by the window. Everything looks so beautiful in spring. I haven’t read all the book.
Interrogative Pronouns Function as noun pronouns and adjective pronouns What has happened? What is his name? What did you say? What are you looking at? What book are you reading?
Conjunctive Pronouns Who did it will repent. (who opens the subject clause) I know who did it. (who opens the object clause) They were what you call model girls. (what opens the predicative clause) Whatever you may do you can’t save the situation. (whatever opens the adverbial concessive clause)
Relative Pronouns Who he was is still a mystery (conjunctive pronoun). I don’t know which of the books is better (conjunctive pronoun). That is the man who has saved your child (relative pronoun). Here is the book which the lecturer recommended (relative pronoun). Relative pronouns may function in the subordinate attributive clause as subject, object, attribute, and adverbial modifier (with prepositions).
5. Words of Broad Meaning and Their Pronominal Features. Notional words of broad meaning are identified as forming an intermediary layer between the pronouns and notional words proper. I wish at her age she'd learn to sit quiet and not do things. Flora's suggestion is making sense. I will therefore briefly set down the circumstances which led to my being connected with the affair.
The lexical paradigm of nomination receives a complete substitutive representation. one, it, they. . . do, make, act. . . such, similar, same. . . thus, so, there. . . Symbolically the correlation of the nominal and pronominal paradigmatic schemes is stated as follows: N V A D Npro Vpro Apro Dpro
