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Part of
Developments in English Historical Morpho-Syntax
Edited by Claudia Claridge and Birte Bös
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 346] 2019
► pp. 57–76

‘Thone vpon thother’

On pronouns one and other with initial th- and t- in Middle English

A frequent result produced by a search of the digital corpora of Middle English (henceforth ME) for instances of reduced th’ is a nominal involving the pronouns one or other with initial th - or t- attached. In this study I argue that two different mechanisms, that is reduction of the definite article and misanalysis of the preceding demonstrative, need to be taken into account when scrutinizing the emergence of what turns out to be four different pronouns, namely thone, thother, tone, and tother. First I flesh out the ways in which these pronouns were used in ME. Then I analyze textual evidence which sheds light on the question when and how these pronouns emerged. Finally I argue that while initial th- is always a definite determiner reduced as expected given the DP cycle, initial t - can be either a definite determiner or, less likely, part of a lexicalized pronoun.

Keywords: pronoun, determiner, Middle English, definiteness, DP cycle
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Setting the stage – The DP cycle and double articulation of definiteness
  • 3.The pronouns tone/thone and tother/thother in ME
  • 4.The origins of tone/thone and tother/thother
  • 5.A correlation between reduced th’ and development of tone/thone and tother/thother
  • 6.Toward an account of thone/thother and tone/tother
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
Published online: 27 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.346.04nyk
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