I (pronoun)

Look up I, me, mine, my, or myself in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In Modern English, I is the singular, first-person pronoun.

Morphology

In Standard Modern English, I has five distinct word forms:

I: the nominative (subjective^[i]) form
- I is the only pronoun form that is always capitalized in English.^[ii] This practice became established in the late 15th century, though lowercase i was sometimes found as late as the 17th century.^[1]
me: the accusative (objective^[i]) forms (The accusative case is also called the 'oblique'.^[2]^:146)
my: the dependent genitive (possessive^[i]) form
mine: the independent genitive
myself: the reflexive form

History

Old English had a first person pronoun the inflected for four cases and three numbers. I originates from Old English (OE) ic, which had in turn originated from the continuation of Proto-Germanic *ik, and ek;^[3] The asterisk denotes an unattested form, but ek was attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions (in some cases notably showing the variant eka; see also ek erilaz). Linguists assume ik to have developed from the unstressed variant of ek. Variants of ic were used in various English dialects up until the 1600s.^[4] The Proto-Germanic root came, in turn, from the Proto Indo-European language (PIE) *eg-.^[3]

Old and Middle English first-person pronouns
	Singular			Dual			Plural
	Early OE	Late OE	ME	Early	Late	ME	Early	Late	ME
Nominative	iċ	ic	I	wit	wit		we	wē	wē
Accusative	meċ	mē	mē	uncit	unc		usiċ	ūs	us
Dative	me	mē	mē	unc	unc		ūs	ūs	us
Genitive	mīn	mīn	mī(n)	uncer	uncer		ūser	ūre	our(es)

*Early OE circa 700 CE,^{^[5]^:144} late,^{^[6]^:117} and ME^{^[6]^:120}

Old English me and mec are from Proto-Germanic *meke (accusative) and *mes (dative).^[7] Mine is from Proto-Germanic *minaz,^[8] and my is a reduced form of mine.^[9] All of these are from PIE root *me-.^[7]^[8]

Syntax

Functions

I can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement.^[10] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. me occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.

Subject: I'm here; me being here; my being there; I paid for myself to be here.
Object: She saw me; She introduced him to me; I saw myself.
Predicative complement: The only person there was me / I.
Dependent determiner: I met my friend.
Independent determiner: This is mine.
Adjunct: I did it myself.
Modifier: the me generation

Coordinative constructions

The above applies when the pronoun stands alone as the subject or object. In some varieties of English (particularly in formal registers), those rules also apply in coordinative constructions such as "you and I".^[11]

"My husband and I wish you a merry Christmas."
"Between you and me..."

In some varieties of non-standard informal English, the accusative is sometimes used when the pronoun is part of a coordinative subject construction,^[11] as in

"Phil and me wish you a merry Christmas."

This is stigmatized but common in many non-standard dialects. ^[12]

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for me to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

Relative clause modifier: the me I'd like to be; *me I'd like to be
Determiner: the me I'd like to be; *the me
Adjective phrase modifier: the real me
Adverb phrase external modifier: Not even me

Semantics

I's referents are limited to the individual person speaking or writing, the first person. I is always definite and specific.

Pronunciation

According to the OED, the following pronunciations are used:


Form	Plain	Unstressed
I	(UK) /ʌɪ/ (US) /aɪ/
me	(UK) /miː/ (US) /mi/	/mi/, /mɪ/ /mɪ/
my	/mʌɪ/	/maɪ/
mine	/mʌɪn/	/maɪn/
myself	(UK) /mʌɪˈsɛlf/ (US) /maɪˈsɛlf/	/mᵻˈsɛlf/ /məˈsɛlf/

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Terminological note:
Authorities use different terms for the inflectional (case) forms of the personal pronouns, such as the oblique-case form me, which is used as a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition, as well as other uses. For instance, one standard work on English grammar, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, uses the term objective case, while another, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, uses the term accusative case. Similarly, some use the term nominative for the form I, while others use the term subjective. Some authorities use the term genitive for forms such as my where others use the term possessive. Some grammars refer to my and mine, respectively, as the dependent genitive and the independent genitive, while others call my a possessive adjective and mine a possessive pronoun.
^ Other pronouns may be capitalized when referring to the Deity ("God's in His heaven") and, of course, when beginning a sentence. The capitalization of the first person pronoun is distinctive of English, although it is common in other languages to capitalize a second person pronoun, for example Sie in German.

References

^ Fowler 2015.
^ Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)
^ ^a ^b "i | Origin and meaning of the name i by Online Etymology Dictionary" . www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
^ OED online.
^ Hogg, Richard, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English language: Volume I The beginnings to 1066. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ ^a ^b Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ ^a ^b "me | Search Online Etymology Dictionary" . www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
^ ^a ^b "mine | Origin and meaning of mine by Online Etymology Dictionary" . www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
^ "my | Origin and meaning of my by Online Etymology Dictionary" . www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
^ Huddleston & Pullum 2002.
^ ^a ^b Huddleston & Pullum 2002, pp. 462–463.
^ Huddleston & Pullum 2002, pp. 462-463.

Bibliography

"Oxford English Dictionary Online" .
Fowler, H.W. (2015). Butterfield, Jeremy (ed.). Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966135-0.CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43146-8.
"Etymology of I ". etymonline.com. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.^{[unreliable source?]}
"Etymology of Me ". etymonline.com. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.^{[unreliable source?]}
Halleck, Elaine (editor). "Sum: Pronoun "I" again ". LINGUIST List 9.253., n.p., Web. 20 Feb. 1998.^{[unreliable source?]}
Jacobsen, Martin (editor). "Sum: Pronoun 'I' ". LINGUIST List 9.253., n.p., Web. 20 Feb. 1998.^{[unreliable source?]}
Mahoney, Nicole. "Language Change ". nsf.gov. n.p. 12 July 2008. Web. 21 Dec. 2010
Wells, Edward. "Further Elucidation on the Capitalization of 'I' in English ". (a paper in progress). Lingforum.com. n.p., Web. 25 Dec. 2010^{[unreliable source?]}

Howe, Stephen (1996). The personal pronouns in the Germanic languages: a study of personal pronoun morphology and change in the Germanic languages from the first records to the present day. Studia linguistica Germanica. 43. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-014636-3.
Gaynesford, M. de (2006). I: The Meaning of the First Person Term. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928782-1..
Wales, Katie (1996). Personal pronouns in present-day English. Studies in English language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47102-8.

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Categories: Modern English personal pronouns | Middle English personal pronouns | Self-reference | English words

Information as of: 03.06.2021 02:38:02 CEST

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