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Demonstrative Pronouns



Demonstrative pronouns belong to an ancient class of words that goes back to two Indo-European rootsse and to. In OE the sound [Ө] started to dominate over the sound [s] due to the pressure of the system (the forms with the sound [Ө] were more numerous (see the table below)).

Demonstrative pronouns in OE changed in Gender, Number, Case:

Pronoun in ModE Demonstrative Pronouns in OE
Case Masculine, Sg Feminine, Sg Neuter, Sg Plural
that Nom se* sēo* þ æ t* þa
Gen þes þ ǽ re þ æ s þara
Dat þ æ m þ ǽ re þ æ m þam
Acc þone þā þ æ t þa
Instr þý* þ ǽ re þý þam
this Nom þes þeos þis* þās
Gen þisses þisse þisses þissa
Dat þissum þisse þissum þissum
Acc þisne þās þis þās
Instr þissum þisse þys þissum

In ME the Case system disappeared due to the fact that there were some homonymous forms (see the table above: e.g. þ ǽ re – F, Sg, Gen; F, Sg, Dat; F, Sg, Instr; þa – Pl, Nom; Pl, Acc; þisse – F, Sg, Gen; F, Sg, Dat) and due to phonetic reduction.

In NE the Gender was lost due to the fact that there were some homonymous forms (see the table above: e.g. þes/þ æ s – M, Sg, Gen; N, Sg, Gen; þ æ m – M, Sg, Dat; N, Sg, Dat; þissum – M, Sg, Dat; N, Sg, Dat) and the following changes happened to the pronouns marked with * in the table above:

· se (M, Sg, Nom) – turned into the definite article “the” (discussed more particularly in the point “Rise of Articles” below);

· sēo (F, Sg, Nom) – turned into the personal pronoun “she” (discussed more particularly in the point “Personal Pronouns” (changes in the 3rd person) below);

· þ æ t (N, Sg, Nom) – remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun “that”;

· þis (N, Sg, Nom) – remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun “this”;

· þý (M, Sg, Instr) – in OE was used in the comparative constructions like “the sooner…the better” but in NE was not distinguished any more phonetically and merged with the unchangeable form of the definite article “the”.

The only category that was left in the demonstrative pronouns was the Number (e.g. ModE this – these, that – those).





Дата публикования: 2014-11-03; Прочитано: 697 | Нарушение авторского права страницы | Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!



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