A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun or pronoun to which it refers (its antecedent) within the same clause. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent (see binding). In Theoretical linguistics, generative grammar refers to a particular approach to the study of Syntax. In Linguistics, anaphora is an instance of an expression referring to another In Grammar, an antecedent is generally the Noun or Noun phrase to which an anaphor refers in a Coreference. Binding theory is a term within Linguistics which refers to a broad class of theories dealing with the distribution of Pronominal and anaphoric elements In some languages, there is a difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns; but the exact conditions that determine whether something is bound are not yet well defined and depend on the language in question. In Grammar, a reflexive verb is a Verb whose semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object are the In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or
In English, the reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, thyself, himself (in some dialects, "hisself"), herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves (in some dialects, "theirselves"). English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In the statements "I see him" and "She sees you", the objects are not the same persons as the subjects, and regular pronouns are used. However, when the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing, the reflexive pronoun is used: "I see myself" or "She sees herself".
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Origins and usage
In Indo-European languages, the reflexive pronoun has its origins in Proto-Indo-European. In some languages, the distinction between the normal objective and the reflexive pronouns exists mainly in the third person: whether one says "I like me" or "I like myself", there is no question that the object is the same person as the subject; but, in "They like them(selves)", there can be uncertainty about the identity of the object unless a distinction exists between the reflexive and the nonreflexive. In some languages, this distinction includes genitive forms: see, for instance, the Swedish examples below. In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another
In languages with a distinct reflexive pronoun form, it is often gender-neutral. Gender-neutral, gender-inclusive or epicene pronouns are Pronouns that neither reveal nor imply the Gender or sex of a person
Non-standard usage in English
Sometimes, the reflexive pronoun is added to highlight its antecedent. A reflexive pronoun used in this appositive way is called an intensive pronoun and, in English, is accepted as standard: for example, "I, myself, wrote this" and "We gave the card to our parents, themselves". Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements normally Noun phrases are placed side by side with one element serving to define or modify the other
It is increasingly common to use reflexive pronouns without local linguistic antecedents to refer to discourse participants or people already referenced in a discourse: for example, "Please, forward the information to myself". Such formulations are usually considered non-standard. Within the linguistics literature, reflexives with discourse antecedents are often referred to as "logophors". Standard English does allow the use of logophors in some contexts: for example, "John was angry. Embarrassing pictures of himself were on display". However, within Standard English, this logophoric use of reflexives is generally limited to positions where the reflexive does not have a coargument. [1] The newer non-standard usage does not respect this limitation. In some cases, reflexives without local antecedents may be better analyzed as emphatic pronouns without any true reflexive sense.
It is common in some subsets of the English-speaking population to use standard objective pronouns to express reflexive relations, especially in the first and sometimes second persons, and especially for a recipient: for example, "I want to get me some supper. An objective pronoun in Grammar functions as the target of a Verb, as distinguished from a Subjective pronoun, which is the initiator of a verb " This usage is non-standard.
Reflexive pronouns in languages other than English
Danish examples
- Jeg beskytter ham. (I protect him. )
- Han beskytter ham. (He protects him. Him designates a person other than the one designated by He. )
- Han beskytter sig (selv). (He protects himself. )
In Danish, there is also a difference between normal and reflexive genetives:
- Anna gav Maria hendes bog. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria. )
- Anna gav Maria sin bog. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria. )
Esperanto examples
The Esperanto reflexive pronoun is si, or sia for the possessive (to which can be added -j for plural agreement and -n for direct object). is by far the most widely spoken constructed International auxiliary language in the world
- Li legas liajn librojn. (He reads his (someone else's) books. )
- Li legas siajn librojn. (He reads his (own) books. )
- Ŝi legas siajn librojn. (She reads her (own) books. )
- Ili legas siajn librojn. (They read their (own) books. )
- Li amas lin. (He loves him (someone else). )
- Li amas sin. (He loves himself. )
- Li rimarkis ŝian amon al si. (He noticed her love for herself (reflexive). )
- Li rimarkis ŝian amon al li. (He noticed her love for him (using a normal pronoun). )
- Li rimarkis sian amon al si. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for himself (reflexive). )
- Li rimarkis sian amon al li. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for him (someone else, not reflexive). )
- Li diras, ke la hundo lavas sian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing its (the dog's) face. )
- Li diras, ke la hundo lavas lian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing his (the speaker's or someone else's, but not the dog's) face. )
French examples
In French, moi-même, toi-même, lui-même/elle-même/soi-même, nous-mêmes, vous-mêmes and eux-mêmes/elles-mêmes. However Canadian French use nous-autres and vous-autres respectively.
In Icelandic
There is only one reflexive pronoun in Icelandic and that is the word sig. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. It doesn't differ between genders nor number. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong A number is an Abstract object, tokens of which are Symbols used in Counting and measuring.
The reflexive pronouns are as such:
- Reflexive pronoun: sig (himself/itself/herself/themselves)
- reflexive possessive pronoun: sinn (his/her/its/their)
| Singular and plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | (hann/hún/það/þeir/þær/þau) ("he/she/it/they") | ||
| Accusative | sig | ||
| Dative | sér | ||
| Genitive | sín | ||
Examples
The reflexive pronoun refers to the third person:
- Hann talar um sig. SINGULAR is a Computer algebra system for Polynomial computations with special emphasis on the needs of Commutative algebra, Algebraic geometry Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another Third person (or third-person) may refer to A Grammatical person, he, she, and they in the English language (masc. sing. ) (He talks about himself)
- Þeir tala um sig. (masc. plur. ) (They talk about themselves)
- Stúlkan flýtti sér heim. (fem. sing. ) (the girl hurried [herself] home)
- Þær flýttu sér heim. (neut. plur. ) (they [the girls] hurried [themselves] home)
- Barnið naut sín. (neut. sing. ) (the child enjoyed itself)
- Börnin nutu sín. (neut. plur. ) (the children enjoyed themselves)
In Latin
There only exists one reflexive pronoun in Latin, and that is the word se. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It is declined in all cases exept nominative and vocative. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc
| Singular or Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | (is/ea/id/eī/iī/eae/ea) | ||
| Vocative | (is/ea/id/eī/iī/eae/ea) | ||
| Accusative | sē, sēsē | ||
| Genitive | suī | ||
| Dative | sibi | ||
| Ablative | sē, sēsē | ||
| Locative | sē, sēsē | ||
Example
Novial examples
(Novial is a constructed language, mostly based on Romance languages. SINGULAR is a Computer algebra system for Polynomial computations with special emphasis on the needs of Commutative algebra, Algebraic geometry Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another In Linguistics, ablative case ( abbreviated ABL) is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location Novial ("new" + ''IAL International Auxiliary Language'' is a constructed International auxiliary language (IAL intended to facilitate international A constructed or artificial language known colloquially or informally as a conlang is a Language whose Phonology, Grammar The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all )
- Lo vida lo. (He sees him. )
- Lo vida se. (He sees himself. )
- Anna donad lan libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria. )
- Anna donad sen libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria. )
Portuguese examples
- Quando ele o vir. (When he sees him. )
- Quando ele se vir. (When he sees himself. )
Russian examples
- Он любит свою жену. On ljubit svoju zhenu. (He loves his wife (his own). )
- Он любит его жену. On ljubit evo zhenu (He loves his wife (someone else's). )
Serbian examples
- Ana je dala Mariji njenu knjigu. (Ana gave her [Maria's] book to Maria. )
- Ana je dala Mariji svoju knjigu. (Ana gave her [Ana's] book to Maria. )
Spanish examples
- Él lo ve. (He sees him. )
- Él se ve. (He sees himself. )
Swedish examples
- Jag ser honom. (I see him. )
- Han ser honom. (He sees him. Him designates a person other than the one designated by He. )
- Han ser sig [själv]. (He sees himself. )
In Swedish, there is also a difference between normal and reflexive genitives:
- Anna gav Maria hennes bok. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria. )
- Anna gav Maria sin bok. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria. )
See also
References
- ^ Pollard, Carl & Ivan Sag (1992). A reciprocal is a linguistic structure that marks a particular kind of relationship between two noun phrases The reciprocal pronouns in English are one another and each other. In Grammar, a reflexive verb is a Verb whose semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the subject and the direct object are the "Anaphors in English and the Scope of the Binding Theory". Linguistic Inquiry (23): 261-303.
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