Pronouns in Middle English

All pronouns in Middle English with the exception of the personal ones the categories of gender and case, some lose their number - that is, being used with nouns they simplified their paradigm according to the changes of the system of the noun. Personal pronouns seem to be the most conservative , their system suffered only slight changes.

The nominative case of personal pronouns however, was somewhat changed. The changes were not simultaneous in all dialects, nor were the changes systematic even with one author, but somehow we find the forms ich, with the growing frequency of the first variant, thou (just new spelling )old English thu), he (no visible changes); the feminine pronoun is found in he/she. The origin of the second form is said to be a mixture of the demonstrative pronoun seo + personal heo\ probably the reason was that the phonetic changes in vowels made the diphthong eo develop in the same way as that of the masculine gender. So that was a good way to avoid ambiguity, unlike with the nouns, with the personal pronouns the category of gender makes sense; living beings had to be distinguished on the basis of their sex. hit is gradually reduced to it, and in Chaucer's works we practically have only this variant. We and ye in the plural did not change and neither did you.

Why is "I" capitalized? "Ego has nothing to do with the capitalization of the pronoun I. Printing and handwriting have everything to do with it. In Middle English the first person was ich--with a lower-case i. When this was shortened to i, manuscript writers and printers found it often got lost or attached to a neighboring word. So the reason for the capital I is simply to avoid confusion and error/

The most complicated was the situation with plural of the third person of personal pronouns. Scandinavian they/them penetrate into the language; not simultaneously. By the end of the 14th the pronoun they was well established in the language, them is practically not used by G. Chaucer, and even in present-' Englishwe say Where are your papers? Give'em to me. Take'em.

The genitive case of personal pronouns might be used as possessive; the pronouns of the 1st and second persons were declined, and might be considered a separate class of pronouns; the third person pronouns were not declined.

The personal pronouns seem to preserve in the course of time more forms than the other classes. It is to be noted that the plural form of the personal pronouns is of a specific nature, we is not ic + ic; it is ic + duor ge;. However it is believed that polite ye denoting only one person is found in the Old English .

The masculine and the neuter gender pronouns coincide in form; only the context shows the real gender of the pronoun - when referring to living beings, it is masculine and neuter when it points to a lifeless thing

the lylie upon his stalke grene... (the lily on its green stalk).

Scandinavian of origin pronoun their comes to the English language somewhat later, for even in Chaucer's works it is practically not found.

So priketh hem Nature in hir corages (So pricks them Nature in their endeavour).

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns retain the category of number only that -tho, thos; this - thes/thisef case and gender forms disappeared, and so the reduction in the number of forms of this class of pronouns is really significant -from 17 to two.

This Palamon, whan he tho wordes herde, (This Palamon, when

he heard those words...)

And in oure yeerd tho herbes shal I fynde (And in our yard I

shall find those herbs...)

Other Classes

Interrogative pronouns change phonetically, the aspiration is weakened and in spelling the letters h and w change place: who what whos whos whom what The instrumental case of hwy changed into the adverb why:

Whos is that faire child, that stondeth yonder? (whose is that fair child, that stands over there?)

In Middle English we also find a new class of pronouns - the reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are formed from the possessive pronoun my/ thy or the objective case of the third person personal pronoun him/hir/hem/we unconsciously use the old form (phoneticians will say that the sound that is dropped is h, not d).

Pekke hem up right as they growe, and ete hem yn! (Pick them up when they grow and eat them)

The paradigm of personal pronouns now is : Sg. N. ich/I thou he she hit/it

D. me thee him hir him/hit/it PL N. we ye hi/they

D. us you hem/them

It as to be noted that in this period the tendency to use ye in addresing one person (a polite form) is already spreading. We may find it rather frequently:

This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak,

The excerpt is long enough to show that the only interlocutor of the cock was one fox, and that the frightened cock used a very polite form - ye to coax the abuser.

Possessive pronouns

A new class of pronouns appears - possesive pronouns. The former Genitive case of the personal pronouns now retains only the possesive meaning, and forms a following group:

1st person Singular mm, myn /my Plural our

2nd person thin, thyn/thyyour

3rd person hir/her, his hire/their

The forms min/thin are full forms of possessive pronouns; their reduced variants my/thy are now used before nouns that begin with a consonant sound: my pilgrymage (my pilgrimage) al thy lyf(al\ thy (your) life) but min eres (my ears) myn aventure (my adventure) do thyn observaunce (do thine observance).

them + self- himself e, hirself, hemselven (later myself, ourselves, yourself and themselves replaced native hemselven)

And such a King whom practice long hath taught,

To please himselfe with mannage...

of the warres (and such a king who long practice has taught to

please himself with managing wars)

I wol my-selven goodly with yow ryde (I will readily ride with

you myself)

Old English pronouns give the present-day either, each, such, any, none. Definite pronoun the same borrowed from Scandinavian replaces seilca, though occasionally we may find that ilke too, more often reduced to the form thilke. Sometimes the older form is used together with the new one. The article before the pronoun varies with the demostrative pronouns this and that.

And certes, in the same book I rede

Right in the nexte chapitre after this (and certainly, I read in the

same book right in the next chapter after this)

Or elles, if free choys be graunted me

To do that same thyng, or do it noght... (or else, if free choice

should be granted me to do the same thing, or not to do...)

And spak thise same wordes... (and spoke the same words)