§ 155. Like the personal and the possessive pronouns, 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 grammati­cally ¹. But this is an illusion caused by the correlation self — selves. As ourselves is not myself + myself, but my­self + yourself or myself + yourselves, or myself + himself, or myself -¹- herself, or myself 4- themselves, we are to regard myself and ourselves as different lexical units, just as / and we, my and our. As to the so-called reflexive voice, see§211.

§ 156 The anaphorical use of the reflexive pronouns 'accounts for the fact tlyit they do not occur in the function of subjects, their usual function being that-of prepositionless or prepositional objects.

When I first met Hickson, I could have kissed his beauti­ful boots. I loved them for themselves. (Gary).

You rftay be letting yourselves out nicely, but I can't. Nor can mother. (Priestley).

§ 157. Se//-pronouns are often used in apposition for emphasis. Dickson's view on the Middle Ages them­selves would have to wait until another time. (Amis).

Some linguists regard the se//-pronouns used for emphasis as a separate group of emphatic pronouns ². In colloquial speech there is a marked tendency to use emphatic pronouns as synonyms of personal ones. Perhaps, the usage is caused by the fact that se//-pronouns are felt to carry more weight than unstressed personal pronouns.

E. g. My wife and myself were left behind. (Daily Worker).

Demonstrative Pronouns

§ 158. Usually only the pronouns this (these), that (those), such and (the) same are regarded as demonstrative. But even this small group is not homogeneous. The pronouns this — that (these — those) are correlative. The sphere of this or these is the space or time close to the speaker and the moment of speech, whereas the sphere of that and those is the time or space farther away from the speaker and the moment of speech.

¹ В H. Жигадло and others, op. cit., p 50—51

² See B. H. Ж и г а д л о and others, op. cit., p. 57—58, M. Qan- shina, N. Vasilevskaya, op. cit., p. 83.

106

The pronouns such and (the) same have no correlative pronouns. They indicate objects or qualities by comparison with those pointed at by the speaker.

Now similar relations can be found in other pronouns. The words here and there meaning 'in this (that) place', now and then meaning 'at this (that) time', hence and thence mean­ing 'from this (that) time (place)' are similar to this and that in their relations to the speaker and the moment of speech. Since they do not name any place or time, but indi­cate it, and this indication is particular, variable and rela­tive with regard to the speaker and the situation of speech, they are pronouns.

The words so and thus in the meaning 'in this way' are pronouns like such and (the) same. They have no correlative words and indicate the manner of actions by comparison with those pointed at by the speaker.

§ 159. Demonstrative pronouns can be:

Pro-nouns: Since the interval she had left him alone and illogically he regretted that. (Randall). This is pretty slick, eh? (Lewis);

Pro-adjectives: These continental rooms are always overpoweringly stuffy. (Randall). He was entering a year of such activity as he had never known. (Lewis);

Pro-adverbs: My aunt has grown accustomed to the atmosphere, but I can never do s o. (Randall). Thus nobly endowed, he was popular with audiences. (Lewis).

§ 160. This — these, that — those are number opposemes. The grammatical meanings of 'singular' and 'plural number are also preserved when these pronouns are used as pro-adjectives, thus involving grammatical combinability: this book, these books.

As elsewhere the 'singular' members of the opposemes occur in speech much more often than the 'plural' opposites, the ratio being approximately 9:1.

Interrogative Pronouns

§ 161. The meaning that unites the interrogative pronouns is "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).

107

As seen from the above, this group embraces pro-nouns (wfut, 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". What is, ho\ve\er, used in reference to living beings as well when the inquiry concerns the occupa­tion of the person spoken about as in What is he? He is a student.