6.1440, Disc: Creeping reflexives

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1440. Tue Oct 17 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  66
 
Subject: 6.1440, Disc: Creeping reflexives
 
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Tue, 17 Oct 1995 14:01:56 -0900
From:  peter at gold.ac.uk (Peter Christian)
Subject:  Creeping reflexives
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Tue, 17 Oct 1995 14:01:56 -0900
From:  peter at gold.ac.uk (Peter Christian)
Subject:  Creeping reflexives
 
Although creeping reflexives certainly contain reflexive pronouns, I think
the reflexivity may not be an essential feature of the usage. Three
observations suggest this.
 
1) In Middle High German verse narratives, it is common to find in dialogue
usages such as "min li^p" (literally "my body") instead of the first person
pronoun, and likewise with the second person. The fact that this occurs
predominantly in the dialogue of characters belonging to the higher social
classes suggests that this avoidance of the personal pronoun is a matter of
politeness. (It is found, incidentally, both in subject and object positions
- though there may some statistical differences in frequency). There is no
reason to suppose this to be a feature of literary rather than everday
language.
 
2) The creeping reflexives could be seen as simply as an extension of the
existing methods of avoiding the personal pronoun in address to persons of
rank ("Your Honour", "Your Majesty"), with the use of a "dummy" noun. MHG
li^p can simply be seen as a more generally applicable dummy noun, as can
"self" in English. Of course, this type of phrase is also used in the
third person.
 
3) The "self" in these creeping reflexives seems still to function as a noun
on occasions for example in the locution (in a slightly archaic British
English, at least) "your good self".
 
Peter Christian
 
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