Why does English have 2nd person pronouns?

English does have a second-person plural. Because it is the same word as the first-person singular, you just do not recognize it as such.

Why does English not have a formal you?

Why Doesn’t English Have Formal Pronouns? English is a Germanic language, meaning it evolved from the same language as German. Going all the way back to Old English, there were two second-person pronouns: þū for the singular “you” and ge for the plural “you.” Over time, these evolved into thou and ye, respectively.

When Did Chinese pronouns become gendered?

By the 1920s, a new pronoun system emerged consisting of three different words, with ta 他, ta 她, and ta 它 referring to the masculine, feminine, and neutral third person, respectively. Gradually, writers, poets, and journalists adopted the new pronouns and introduced them to a wider audience.

Does the Chinese language have gendered pronouns?

In written Cantonese, the third-person singular pronoun is keui5, written as 佢; it may refer to people of either gender because Chinese does not have gender roles as English in third-person pronouns.

Why does English not have a plural you?

‘You” was originally plural, “thou” was the singular. There was a shift to using the plural as the polite form, eg. monarchs say ‘we’ for I, so gradually the ‘you’ plural began to be used by everybody.

Can I say yous?

Use of yous is extremely low in both formal and spoken English. Less than 0.00002 words of Google books are ‘yous’. Thou is more commonly used (0.002+).

Does English have two forms of you?

In Standard Modern English, you has five shapes representing six distinct word forms: you: the nominative (subjective) and accusative (objective or oblique case ) forms. your: the dependent genitive (possessive) form. yours: independent genitive (possessive) form.

What are T V pronouns?

The T–V distinction is the contextual use of different pronouns that exists in some languages, and serves to convey formality or familiarity. Its name comes from the Latin pronouns tu and vos. One of these used the pronouns thou and you, with the familiar thou disappearing from Early Modern English.

Why do Chinese speak in third person?

People in ancient China go out of their way to appear humble out of politeness. So they do this by avoiding as far as possible to not referring directly to themselves as ‘I’. There are many ways to do this. One, as you observed, is to refer to themselves in the third person, by their own name.

Are pronouns used in Chinese?

There are just a few pronouns in Mandarin Chinese, and unlike many European languages, there are no subject / verb agreements to worry about. Just a few simple rules tell you everything you need to know about pronouns in Chinese.

Is English a gender neutral language?

English has never really been a gender-neutral language. However, this was not always the case, according to Dr Tatman. “It was possible, hundreds of years ago, to use the pronoun ‘they’ in English to refer to someone in the singular without specifying a gender.

When did you become the second person singular pronoun?

However, it appears that, by the time of Early Modern English, or perhaps even Late Middle English, youbecame the neutral or unmarked second person singular pronoun while thee/thouwas marked, at least among the upper classes. The two pronouns no longer functioned as a strict T-V system, if, indeed, they ever had.

Why are first and second person pronouns so often condemned?

The reason why first and second person pronouns are “condemned” is because the focus should be on the work, not the writer. An academic reader doesn’t really care about the writer’s opinions (which is what usually happens when first and second person pronouns are used), but care more about the topic and what is learned about IT, not the author.

Are personal pronouns considered formal or informal?

Personal pronouns are considered informal as you would write a letter to a friend. Academic writing is supposed to be formal. It’s like holding your pinkie finger up when you drink a cup of tea. Nobody has any idea what the purpose is but that’s how it’s “supposed to be” done.