Summary: number in personal pronouns

[Colin P Masica]

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out yet, but if not it is time
someone did: it is not only in Russian, African & Australian languages, etc.
that wives and husbands are referred to as "mother" and "father" by their
spouses -- but also, and quite normally, in rural  American English! (I just
heard it again last night...)

Colin Masica

From: Elena Skribnik <Elena.Skribnik at FINN.FAK12.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE>
Reply-To: Elena Skribnik <Elena.Skribnik at FINN.FAK12.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 14:59:10 +0200
To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Summary: number in personal pronouns


> Re: Summary: number in personal pronouns
I would like to add two more items to the list:

a) the use of "we" instead of "I" in scientific Russian and German; for the
generation of my teachers "we" is the norm, both spoken and written, in my
generation "I" appears sporadically - evidently under the English influence.
Compare: I argue that = Nam (Pl.) predstavljaetsja, chto; v nashej rabote
'in our (=my) work'; etc. The same happens in German;

b) plural pronouns with singular reference as polite forms are widely
spread; but there are also cases when they are used in response, like in
some German dialects: "Wie geht es Euch (Sg.)? Uns (=mir) geht es gut". The
same happens in Turkish.

By the way, in Russian families with children the husband can call his wife
not only by her name, but simply mat' - 'mother', and she can call him
otec - "father".

Elena Skribnik
_______________________________________________
 
Prof. Dr. Elena Skribnik
Institut für Finnougristik/Uralistik
der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Ludwigstr. 31
D-80539 München
Tel. (089) 2180 1379
Fax (089) 2180 3005
E-mail: Elena.Skribnik at finn.fak12.uni-muenchen.de



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