Editor's note: This file was originally part of my old website. I wrote it on 04-Feb-2003.
Last night, I was thinking. Normally this leads to no action, as my ideas are too numerous to fit in one day. However, this time I decided to put my idea in action. I was wondering about pronouns, and specifically English pronouns. Thesis: English has too few pronouns. It only has 16:
| Subject (Nominative Case) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Male | Female | Neuter | Male | Female | Neuter | |
| First Person | I | We | ||||
| Second Person | You | You/Y'all | ||||
| Third Person | He | She | It | They | ||
| Direct Object (Accusative Case) | ||||||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Male | Female | Neuter | Male | Female | Neuter | |
| First Person | Me | Us | ||||
| Second Person | You | You/Y'all | ||||
| Third Person | Him | Her | It | Them | ||
And then, of course, the miscellaneous that won't fit anywhere on a table:
- These
- Those
- This
- That
- The other
Obviously, there is room for more. I propose that we have new pronouns, to fit with conventions and current pronouns:
| Person | Number | Specifics | Nominative Case | Accusative Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person |
Singular | I | Me | |
| Plural | You and I | Weym (waim) | Usaym (uh-saa-yum) | |
| Y'all and I | Weysm (weigh-sum) | Usaysm (uh-say-sum) | ||
| You and I and one other person |
Weymo (weigh-mo) | Usamo (uh-saa-mo) | ||
| Y'all and I and one other person |
Weysmo (weigh-s'mo) | Usasmo (uh-saa-s'mo) | ||
| You and I and several other people |
Weymos (weigh-muss) | Usaymos (uh-say-moess) | ||
| Y'all and I and several other people |
Weysmos (weigh-s'moss) | Usaysmos (uh-say-s'mos) | ||
| Second person |
Singular | You | You | |
| Plural | One of addressees | Youo (you-oh) | Yuoo (you-ooh) | |
| Some of addressees | Yous (youss) | Yus (yuss) | ||
| All addressees | Yousa (you-sa) | Yusa (yussa) | ||
| Third Person | Singular | Male | He | Him |
| Female | She | Her | ||
| Neuter | It | Ita (it-uh) | ||
| Plural | Male | Hep | Himp | |
| Female | Shep | Herp | ||
| Neuter | Itsp (it-spuh) | Itasp (it-usp) | ||
| Generic | Plural | They | Them |
This gives us a total of 34 pronouns, not counting the ^miscellaneous ones I stated above — more than enough for any situation, and especially those long sentences which often run out of suitable pronouns.