The Early History of 'they': Forms, Functions and Etymology

Abstract

This talk challenges the long-held theory that the English pronouns they, their, them are loanwords from Old Norse, arguing instead that the pronouns ultimately derive from the Old English demonstratives þā – þāra – þām. Based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of third-person plural personal pronoun usage in early English, I present evidence of morphosyntactic and phonological continuity from Old to Middle English, particularly in the northern and (south)western dialects. I explore the idea that contact with Old Norse primarily reinforced existing native developments rather than introducing entirely new forms, thus highlighting the complex interplay of internal linguistic evolution and language contact that combined to shape they, their, them.

Bio

Marcelle Cole is Assistant Professor in English Historical Linguistics and Medieval Literature at the University of Utrecht. She holds a PhD from the University of Seville, and her research has focussed on Old and Middle English dialects, especially those of the northern areas, with particular interest in pronouns and verb morphology. She has been involved in several research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, as part of the research group Diacronía y Dialectología del Inglés based at the University of Seville. Her book, The Early History of They: Forms, Functions and Etymology, is published this December by Palgrave Macmillan.