<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Dear Ian,</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
I think it would be worthwhile to also consider the definition of pronouns advanced in Andrej Kibrik's excellent
<i>Reference in discourse</i>. Some relevant quotes are below. Note that Kibrik is here using
<i>pronoun</i> to mean primarily <i>personal pronoun</i> (p. 121).</div>
<blockquote itemscope="" itemtype="https://schemas.microsoft.com/QuotedText" style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(200, 200, 200); border-top-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-right-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-bottom-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); padding-left: 1ex; margin-left: 0.8ex; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
"[...] the term 'pronoun' implies only three things. First, a pronoun is a referential device, directly coding referents. Second, it is a reduced referential device, that is, it does not have lexical content. Third, pronouns are
<b>overt</b> devices, and so are opposed to zero reference." (p. 121; empahsis in the original)</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Kibrik also notes that there are other types of items which sometimes share the function of personal pronouns, but should not themselves be considered personal pronouns:</div>
<blockquote itemscope="" itemtype="https://schemas.microsoft.com/QuotedText" style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(200, 200, 200); border-top-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-right-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-bottom-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); padding-left: 1ex; margin-left: 0.8ex; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Linguistic elements that can be characterized as overt reduced referential devices most typically coincide with what are traditionally known as personal pronouns. In the context of referential choice between full and reduced referential devices, most often
these are third person pronouns. English is a typical example of a language that uses third person pronouns when a reduced referential device is needed. However, in this kind of language other reduced devices may be used, such as demonstratives. Furthermore,
not all languages have dedicated third person pronouns: some languages employ overt reduced referential devices that fall out of the scope of what traditionally counts as third person pronouns. Several kinds of linguistic elements that belong to other pronoun
types or even different lexico-grammatical classes may effectively function in discourse as
<b>analogues</b> of third person pronouns. Such analogues can be thought of as marginal overt reduced referential devices.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote itemscope="" itemtype="https://schemas.microsoft.com/QuotedText" style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(200, 200, 200); border-top-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-right-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); border-bottom-color: rgb(200, 200, 200); padding-left: 1ex; margin-left: 0.8ex; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Among these, the most salient ones are: demonstratives, classifiers, and social status nouns. All of these devices are distinct from personal pronouns, in particular because they do not contain the category of person. [...] However, in certain languages that
lack genuine third person pronouns these devices play the pronominal role. (p. 124; emphasis in the original)</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Kibrik also helpfully distinguishes between <i>strong</i> vs. <i>weak</i> pronouns, where strong pronouns are prosodically and pragmatically marked, and weak pronouns are prosodically reduced and/or dependent. Weak pronouns are functionally analogous to bound
pronouns (p. 92).</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Hope that's helpful!</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Danny</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<b>References</b></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<ul>
<li>Kibrik, Andrej A. 2011. <i>Reference in discourse</i>. Oxford University Press. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215805.001.0001" title="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215805.001.0001">10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215805.001.0001</a>.</li></ul>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div id="Signature">
<div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.</span><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">Postdoctoral Fellow</span></div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">University of Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab)</span></div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<a href="http://www.danielhieber.com" style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif">danielhieber.com</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",Times,serif"></span></a><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="appendonsend"></div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of JOO, Ian [Student] <ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 5, 2021 11:53 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> LINGTYP <lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Lingtyp] Definition of “personal pronoun"</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div name="x_messageBodySection">
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Dear typologists,</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">I’m having a hard time trying to find a definition of a “personal pronoun”.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">One definition is that a personal pronoun refers to a literal person, a human being. But then again, non-human pronouns like English </span><em style="font-family:Times New Roman">it</em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman"> are
also frequently included as a personal pronoun.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Another definition seems to be that “personal” refers to a grammatical person and not a literal person. Thus, </span><em style="font-family:Times New Roman">it</em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman"> refers to
the (non-human) 3rd person, therefore it is a personal pronoun.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">But then again, demonstratives, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns also refer to the 3rd person. (This </span><em style="font-family:Times New Roman">is</em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman"> a book, who </span><em style="font-family:Times New Roman">is </em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">that
man, anything </span><em style="font-family:Times New Roman">is </em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">possible) Then are they also personal pronouns?</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">What’s the clearest definition of a personal pronoun, if any?</span></div>
</div>
<div name="x_messageSignatureSection"><br>
From Hong Kong,
<div dir="auto">Ian</div>
</div>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
p
{margin-top:12px;
margin-bottom:12px}
-->
</style><img alt="" src="https://www.polyu.edu.hk/emaildisclaimer/PolyU_Email_Signature.jpg">
<p><br>
<em><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Disclaimer:</font></em></p>
<p></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><i><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span>This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose. If you are not the intended recipient, you should
delete this message and notify the sender and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (the University) immediately. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.</span></font></i></p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in"><i><span><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The University specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through University E-mail Facilities. Any views and opinions expressed are
only those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the University and the University accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or damages incurred or caused to any party as a result of the use of such information.</font></span></i></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>