borrowing pronouns

[Steven Schaufele]

Robert Orr wrote:

> Borrowing of pronouns is rare, but NOT impossible:

[a couple of examples given]

Not to mention the entire 3rd-plural paradigm in Modern English,
borrowed from Old Norse to replace the inherited WGmc. forms which had
become indistinguishable from sing. forms.

> 3) And cf. the Muppets.  Miss Piggy would often use "moi" as the first
> person singular pronoun while purportedly speaking English.

And which has since spread to the speech of a great many Americans, many
of whom [e.g. my wife] have at best an extremely limited knowledge of
French.

Best,
Steven
--
Steven Schaufele, Ph.D., Asst. Prof. of Linguistics, English Department
Soochow University, Waishuanghsi Campus, Taipei 11102, Taiwan, ROC
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