He (pronoun)

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In Modern English, he is a singular, masculine, third-person pronoun.

Contents

Morphology

In Standard Modern English, he has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: [1]

History

Old English had a single third-person pronoun — from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *hi-, from PIE *ko- "this" [3] — which had a plural and three genders in the singular. The modern pronoun it developed out of the neuter singular, starting to appear without the h in the 12th century. Her developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms, while the other feminine forms and the plural were replaced with other words. The older pronoun had the following forms:

Old English, third-person pronoun [4] :117
SingularPlural
MasculineNeuterFeminine
Nominativehithēo(e)
Accusativehinehithīe(e)
Dative himhimhirehim / heom
Genitivehishishirehira / heora

In the 12th century, it started to separate and appear without an h. Around the same time, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop. The -self forms developed in early Middle English, with hine self becoming himself. [5] By the 15th century, the Middle English forms of he had solidified into those we use today. [4] :120

Gender

He had three genders in Old English, but in Middle English, the neuter and feminine genders split off. Today, he is the only masculine pronoun in English. In the 18th century, it was suggested as a gender-neutral pronoun, and was thereafter often prescribed in manuals of style and school textbooks until around the 1960s. [6]

Syntax

Functions

He can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement. [7] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. He occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for he to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

Semantics

He's referents are generally limited to individual male persons, excluding the speaker and the addressee. He is always definite and usually specific.

Generic

The pronoun he can be used to refer to an unspecified person, as in If you see someone in trouble, help him. (See Gender above). This can seem very unnatural, even ungrammatical, as in these examples:

The dominant epicene pronoun in modern written British English is 'they'. [8] Many style guides now reject the generic 'he'. [9]

Deities

When speaking of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, some Christians use the capitalised forms "He", "His" and "Him" in writing, and in some translations of the Bible. [lower-alpha 1]

See also

Notes

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)
  3. "it | Origin and meaning of it by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  5. "himself, pron. and n." Oxford English Dictionary.
  6. O'Conner, Patricia; Kellerman, Stewart (21 July 2009). "On Language - "All-Purpose Pronoun"". New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  7. Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press.
  8. Franziska, Moser; Magda, Formanowicz; Sabine, Sczesny (2 February 2016). "Can Gender-Fair Language Reduce Gender Stereotyping and Discrimination?". Frontiers in Psychology. 7 (25): 3. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00025 . PMC   4735429 . PMID   26869947.
  9. Paterson, Laura (25 July 2014). British Pronoun Use, Prescription, and Processing: Linguistic and Social Influences Affecting 'They' and 'He'. Vol. 7 (2014th ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 2. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00025 . ISBN   978-1137332721. PMC   4735429 . PMID   26869947.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)

Further reading