Third person pronouns

 

In this section we consider a variety of third person pronouns. Such pronouns normally decline as if they were members of the Det_2 determiner class, independently of whether the corresponding determiner is a member of that class. Thus Dieser/pro and Dein/pro decline identically even though Dieser/det and Dein/det belong to different determiner declension classes. Our treatment thus needs to bring pronouns under the Det_2 class, as well as showing that their syntactic status is that of a noun phrase and that their inherent person is third. It will also be useful to provide for the class of pronouns that lack genitive forms. To these ends, we introduce the nodes Pronoun and Pronoun-g, below:

Pronoun:
    <> == Det_2
    <syn cat> == np
    <syn person> == third.

Pronoun-g:
    <> == Pronoun
    <mor word gen> == UNDEFINED.

For a canonical pronoun of this type, all we need to do is say (i) that it is an instance of the Pronoun (or Pronoun-g) class, and (ii) that its phonology is the same as that used for the corresponding determiner.

Dein/pro:                        Dieser/pro:
    <> == Pronoun                    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Dein.                   <phn> == Dieser.
Euer/pro:                        Ihr/pro:
    <> == Pronoun                    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Euer.                   <phn> == Ihr.
Jener/pro:                       Mein/pro:
    <> == Pronoun                    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Jener.                  <phn> == Mein.
Sein/pro:                        Unser/pro:
    <> == Pronoun                    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Sein.                   <phn> == Unser.
Kein/pro:                        Welcher/pro:
    <> == Pronoun-g                  <> == Pronoun-g
    <phn> == Kein.                   <phn> == Welcher.
Ein/pro:
    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Ein
    <syn number> == sing.

Given our analysis of the definite article, it is also rather straightforward to provide an account of German relative pronoun forms. What we need to say is that they are pronouns which are, by default, identical to the corresponding definite article forms; that the genitive suffix is -en; and that the dative plural suffix is that standardly found in German pronouns. All this can be said in the five DATR equations that follow:

Der/pro:
    <> == Pronoun
    <phn> == Der
    <mor suffix> == Null
    <mor suffix gen> == "Suffix_en:<phn syll>"
    <mor suffix dat plur> == Pronoun.

Hence:

Der/pro:
    <mor word nom sing masc> = d e r
    <mor word nom sing femn> = d i:
    <mor word nom sing neut> = d a s
    <mor word acc sing masc> = d e n
    <mor word acc sing femn> = d i:
    <mor word acc sing neut> = d a s
    <mor word gen sing masc> = d E s @ n
    <mor word gen sing femn> = d e r @ n
    <mor word gen sing neut> = d E s @ n
    <mor word dat sing masc> = d e m
    <mor word dat sing femn> = d e r
    <mor word dat sing neut> = d e m
    <mor word nom plur masc> = d i:
    <mor word nom plur femn> = d i:
    <mor word nom plur neut> = d i:
    <mor word acc plur masc> = d i:
    <mor word acc plur femn> = d i:
    <mor word acc plur neut> = d i:
    <mor word gen plur masc> = d e r @ n
    <mor word gen plur femn> = d e r @ n
    <mor word gen plur neut> = d e r @ n
    <mor word dat plur masc> = d e n @ n
    <mor word dat plur femn> = d e n @ n
    <mor word dat plur neut> = d e n @ n.

Like Der/pro and the other third person pronoun forms described in this section of the paper, the third person personal pronoun forms are, in essence, instances of the Strong_2 declension, albeit ones that exhibit a significant degree of segmental suppletion. And, as with the relative pronouns, the final -en suffix shows up in the dative plural. Given the way our treatment of the Strong_2 declension works, only four stipulations relating to individual nominative singular segments are needed to capture all the suppletive forms.

Er/pro:
    <> == Pronoun-g
    <phn> == Strong_2
    <phn onset nom sing femn> == z
    <phn peak>                == i:
    <phn peak nom sing masc>  == e:
    <phn peak nom sing neut>  == E
    <phn coda nom sing neut>  == z
    <phn syll dat sing femn>  == "Ihr"
    <mor suffix> == Der/pro.

This leads to the following unique paradigm:

Er:
    <mor word nom sing masc> =   e: r
    <mor word nom sing femn> = z i:
    <mor word nom sing neut> =   E  z
    <mor word acc sing masc> =   i: n
    <mor word acc sing femn> = z i:
    <mor word acc sing neut> =   E  z
    <mor word dat sing masc> =   i: m
    <mor word dat sing femn> =   e: r
    <mor word dat sing neut> =   i: m
    <mor word nom plur masc> = z i:
    <mor word nom plur femn> = z i:
    <mor word nom plur neut> = z i:
    <mor word acc plur masc> = z i:
    <mor word acc plur femn> = z i:
    <mor word acc plur neut> = z i:
    <mor word dat plur masc> =   i: n @ n
    <mor word dat plur femn> =   i: n @ n
    <mor word dat plur neut> =   i: n @ n.