singular for plural

[Edith A Moravcsik]

I have been frequently struck by English speakers using the first person
singular pronoun when they mean themselves and their families; such as
"Last year I went to Spain for a vacation." (when the whole family went)
or "I have a beautiful house." (in reference to the family residence). I
have noticed this only in male speech so far and not outside the US.

Edith Moravcsik

----- Original Message -----
From: Suzanne Kemmer <kemmer at RICE.EDU>
To: <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 5:35 PM
Subject: Re: Summary: number in personal pronouns


Even the most reasonable functional features are not always
perfectly general.

I have always wondered why, in 19th century British fiction,
one sibling speaking to another will regularly refer to "my father"
or "my mother" (in cases where they
both have the same set of parents, and are not
step-siblings).  Same with cousins, who refer in talking
to each other to "my aunt"
and "my uncle" even though both interlocutors have the
same relationship to the person spoken of.
It certainly sounds odd from the standpoint of
my own intuitions. It sounds to modern ears like the speaker wants to
exclude the sibling/cousin they are talking to from the
relationship. But there is nothing in the context
to suggest this; it seems to have been a normal
mode of reference.

Suzanne


On Thursday, April 17, 2003, at 12:53  PM, Bertinetto wrote:
Relating to the recent message by:

From: Henning Kloeter <h.kloeter at let.leidenuniv.nl>
Subject: Re: summary

specifically where it says:

M. Daniel notes parallels in Russian, mentioning that "when you speak
to your wife, saying 'my son' or 'your.sg sun' sounds either funny or
offending. When talking to another possessor of the same item you
obligatorily have to mention the same possessive relation connects
the addressee to the possessed item, so that possession becomes
obligatorily first person plural."

Isn't it a general feature? This is certainly true in Italian.
If I said "my" (referring to something that is common property) while
talking to another owner of the same object, I would definitely sound
arrogant. This obviously extends to human beings, such as children.
One could say "my son" speaking to her/his mother (although this is not
the usual way to refer to him within the family), but certainly not while
speaking to her husband or his wife. I always took it for granted that the
same happens in any language.
Was I wrong?
Best

Pier Marco Bertinetto
Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa