Subject and Course Guides: History of Pronouns: Home

What is "prescriptivism"?

Prescriptive Grammar

Prescriptivism: “the widespread belief that there is one and only one correct way of using the language”
“The recommendation that one variant should be used rather than another is generally motivated not by logic, but by various social considerations: the preferred variant is usually that favored by influential persons and groups.”
“the linguistic value judgments characteristic of contemporary prescriptivism are, in effect, social comments on speakers, rather than valid metalinguistic statements.”

Source:

Milroy, L., & Milroy, J. (2003). Prescriptive Grammar. In International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press.

Pronouns are constantly evolving in political ways

Old English (1,000 years ago)	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Singular	I, me, mine	thou, thee, thine	he/his, she/her/hers, it/its
Plural	we, our, ours	you, your, yours	they, their, theirs

Middle English (500 years ago)

1st person

2nd person

3rd person

Singular

I, me, mine

you, your, yours

thou, thee, thine

he/his, she/her/hers, it/its, they/their/theirs

Plural

we, our, ours

you, your, yours

they, their, theirs

18th-19th century	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Singular	I, me, mine	you, your, yours	he/his, she/her/hers, it/its
Plural	we, our, ours	you, your, yours	they, their, theirs

20th century-today

1st person

2nd person

3rd person

Singular

I, me, mine

you, your, yours

he/his, she/her/hers, it/its

Plural

we, our, ours

guys, you guys, your guys’, you guys’;

y’all, all y’all, etc.

they, their, theirs

Sources:

Balhorn, Mark. "The Rise of Epicene They." Journal of English Linguistics 32.2 (2004): 79-104.

Metcalf, Allan. (2019). "My Pronoun, ’tis of Thee: Thou Art Lost and Gone Forever." Chapter 8 in The Life of Guy: Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Unlikely History of an Indispensable Word. Oxford University Press.

Zimman, Lal. (2016, August 26). "Pronouns Have Always Been Political: Socially-Motivated Change in Our Pronoun System Is Nothing New." Trans Talk blog.

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