Singularization of Plural English Second Person Pronouns

Abstract

English second-person pronouns have undergone notable morphological and semantic changes from Old English to the present. Driven by pragmatic motivations such as the expression of respect, plural forms have to varying degrees developed singular usage and, in some cases, have even replaced the original singular forms. To meet the communicative need to distinguish singular from plural reference, reinforcement strategies have emerged and have become a principal mechanism for renewing plural forms. This paper traces the historical development of English second-person pronouns, delineates the specific path of the singularization of plural forms and the subsequent renewal cycle, analyzes the internal linguistic factors and external motivations underlying this change, and brings together cross-linguistic evidence for the singularization of plural second-person pronouns from a typological perspective. The study shows that the singularization of English second-person plural pronouns is a typologically widespread phenomenon, that the change follows the unidirectionality principle of grammaticalization, and that it exhibits a recurring renewal cycle of “plural-form singularization → emergence of a new plural form → re-singularization of the new form.”