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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4> <FONT size=3>I think Elizabeth's query
calls for a clear distinction between pronouns proper (stressed or full forms)
and personnal indices (unstressed , or toneless, etc., depending on the
language). French 3SG lui is a pronoun, whereas il (subject), le (object), lui
("dative", unstressed, or rather proclitic, since I would'nt readily speak of
stress in the case of a monosyllable), etc. are personal indices. They are
historically derived from Latin deictics, not from Latin nouns. In many other
languages, the pronouns have a nominal origin, which is still perceptible,
or very clear (Japanese wata(ku)shi, kimi, etc.; Thai; Khmer; many already
mentioned Austronesian languages; etc.). In such languages, the use of pronouns
as indices is less frequent (if only because their polysyllabic structure makes
them less handy), but it can become frequent, denoting a strong integration in
the actancy system (agents, patients, adverbial complements, etc.), e.g. in
Vietnamese (anh, ong, em, etc.). In an inflectional language like Polish, we see
that pan, pani etc. is inflected for case as well as for gender, and does not
mean "Sir" or "Mrs" any longer when used as a personal index. In other
Indo-european languages, pronouns and indices having a nominal origin,
such as Italian lei, Spanish usted, Port. o senhor/a senhora (note the
nominal gender endings), Dutch U, Hungarian maga, Hindi ap, etc., are not
compulsory in dialogues, provided there is 3SG (or, for German Sie, 3PL)
concord, and the same applies to the (strongly polysyllabic!) Rum.
dumneavoastra. The "pro-drop" issue in formal linguistics has brought
about a certain amount of confusion: the so-called "pro-drop" languages may drop
the pronoun, but not always the personal index. They are not so pro-drop as they
appear.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Claude Hagège, Collège de France, Chaire de Théorie
linguistique, Paris<BR><A
href="mailto:claude.hagege@free.fr">claude.hagege@free.fr</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>