Crosslinguistic perspectives on the source of first/second person pronouns

Abstract

This study investigates demonstratives as the diachronic source of first/second person pronouns and shows that though several languages use them to designate the speaker/addressee, most usage does not conventionalize as first/second person pronouns despite the claim in previous studies. It then presents functional reasons that demonstratives rarely give rise to first/second person pronouns. This study additionally examines nouns and reflexives as the source of first/second person pronouns and shows that while it is relatively common for nouns to develop into first/second person pronouns, the same conclusion as demonstratives can be drawn for reflexives. I argue that the historical development of first/second person pronouns differs from that of third person pronouns due to speech-functional and discourse-pragmatic reasons. The development of the former concerns the speaker-addressee axis, thus more strongly affected than the latter by the tug of war between efficiency in linguistic communication and social success in interpersonal communication.