Grammatical person
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Grammatical features |
---|
In
Related classifications
Number
In
Inclusive/exclusive distinction
Some other languages use different classifying systems, especially in the plural pronouns. One frequently found difference not present in most Indo-European languages is a contrast between
Honorifics
Many languages express person with different
Effect on verbs
In many languages, the verb takes a form dependent on the person of the subject and whether it is singular or plural. In English, this happens with the verb to be as follows:
- I am (first-person singular)
- you are/thou art (second-person singular)
- he, she, one, it is (third-person singular)
- we are (first-person plural)
- you are/ye are (second-person plural)
- they are (third-person plural, and third-person singular)
Other verbs in English take the suffix -s to mark the present tense third person singular, excluding singular 'they'.
In many languages, such as French, the verb in any given tense takes a different suffix for any of the various combinations of person and number of the subject.
Additional persons
The grammar of some languages divide the semantic space into more than three persons. The extra categories may be termed fourth person, fifth person, etc. Such terms are not absolute but can refer, depending on context, to any of several phenomena.
Some Algonquian languages and Salishan languages divide the category of third person into two parts: proximate for a more topical third person, and obviative for a less topical third person.[5] The obviative is sometimes called the fourth person. In this manner, Hindi and Bangla may also categorize pronouns in the fourth, and with the latter a fifth person.[clarification needed] [6]
The term
English personal pronouns in the nominative case
Pronoun | Person and number | Gender |
---|---|---|
Standard | ||
I | First-person singular | |
we | First-person plural | |
you | Second-person singular or second-person plural | |
he | Third-person masculine singular
|
masculine |
she | Third-person feminine singular
|
feminine |
it | Third-person neuter (and inanimate) singular
|
neuter |
they
|
Third-person gender-neutral singular
|
epicene |
Dialectal | ||
me | First-person singular, dialectal Caribbean English and colloquial special uses | |
thee | Second-person singular, literary, dialectal Yorkshire, and occasional use by Quakers | |
allyuh | Second-person plural, many English-based creole languages, dialectal Caribbean English | |
unu | Second-person plural, many English-based creole languages, dialectal Caribbean English | |
y'all | Second-person plural, dialectal Southern American, Texan English, and African-American English | |
ye | Second-person plural, dialectal Hiberno-English and Newfoundland English | |
yinz | Second-person plural, Pittsburgh English
|
|
you guys
|
Second-person plural, dialectal American English and Canadian English | |
you(r) lot | Second-person plural, dialectal British English | |
yous(e) | Second-person plural, Australian English, many urban American dialects like New York City English and Chicago English, as well as Ottawa Valley English. Sporadic usage in some British English dialects, such as Mancunian. Also used by some speakers of Hiberno-English. | |
yourse
|
Second-person plural, Cumbrian, Tyneside , Hiberno English.
|
|
us | First-person plural subject, as in, us guys are going... | |
them | Third-person plural subject, as in, them girls drove... | |
Archaic | ||
thou | Second-person singular informal subject | |
ye | Second-person plural |
See also
Grammar
- English personal pronouns
- Gender-neutral pronoun
- Gender-specific pronoun
- Generic antecedents
- Generic you
- Grammatical conjugation
- Grammatical number
- Illeism
- Personal pronoun
- Singular they
- Verb
Works
- First Person Singular §§ Literature and Film and television
- First Person Plural, a book by Cameron West
- Second Person Singular, a book by Sayed Kashua
- Third Person Singular Number, a film by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
- Third Person Plural, a film directed by James Ricketson and starring Bryan Brown
References
- ^ Hattum, Ton van (2006). "First, Second, Third Person: Grammatical Person". Ton van Hattum.
- ISBN 978-90-272-2974-8.[page needed]
- JSTOR j.ctt1s17nnj.5.
- JSTOR 42922325.
- S2CID 10649070.
- ^ Linguistics: Stack Exchange
- .
- .
External links
- de Gaynesford, Robert Maximillian (2006). I: The Meaning of the First Person Term. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kibort, Anna (2008), "person", Grammatical Features Inventory,