I (pronoun)

In Modern English, I is the singular, first-person pronoun.

Look up I, me, mine, my, or myself in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Morphology
See also: Morphology (linguistics) and Objective case § English

In Standard Modern English, I has five distinct word forms:

History
Further information: Old English pronouns, Proto-Germanic pronouns, and Proto-Indo-European pronouns

Old English had a first-person pronoun that inflected for four cases and three numbers. I originates from Old English (OE) ic, which had in turn originated from the continuation of Proto-Germanic *ik, and ek;[3] The asterisk denotes an unattested form, but ek was attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions (in some cases notably showing the variant eka; see also ek erilaz). Linguists assume ik to have developed from the unstressed variant of ek. Variants of ic were used in various English dialects up until the 1600s.[4] The Proto-Germanic root came, in turn, from the Proto Indo-European language (PIE) *eg-.[3]

Old and Middle English first-person pronouns
Singular Dual Plural
Early OE Late OE ME Early Late ME Early Late ME
Nominative iċ ic I wit wit we wē wē
Accusative meċ mē mē uncit unc usiċ ūs us
Dative me unc ūs
Genitive mīn mīn mī(n) uncer uncer ūser ūre our(es)

*Early OE circa c. 700 CE,[5]: 144  late,[6]: 117  and ME[6]: 120 

Old English me and mec are from Proto-Germanic *meke (accusative) and *mes (dative).[7] Mine is from Proto-Germanic *minaz,[8] and my is a reduced form of mine.[9] All of these are from PIE root *me-.[7][8]

Syntax

Functions

I can appear as a subject, object, determiner, or predicative complement.[10] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. Me occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.

  • Subject: I'm here; me being here; my being there; I paid for myself to be here.
  • Object: She saw me; She introduced him to me; I saw myself.
  • Predicative complement: The only person there was me / I.
  • Dependent determiner: I met my friend.
  • Independent determiner: This is mine.
  • Adjunct: I did it myself.
  • Modifier: the me generation

Coordinative constructions
See also: Between you and I

The above applies when the pronoun stands alone as the subject or object. In some varieties of English (particularly in formal registers), those rules also apply in coordinative constructions such as "you and I".[11]

  • "My husband and I wish you a merry Christmas."
  • "Between you and me..."

In many dialects of informal English, the accusative is sometimes used when the pronoun is part of a coordinative subject construction,[11] as in

  • "Phil and me wish you a merry Christmas."

This is stigmatized but common in many dialects.[11]

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for me to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

Semantics

I's referents are limited to the individual person speaking or writing, the first person. I is always definite and specific.

Pronunciation

According to the OED, the following pronunciations are used:

Form Plain Unstressed Recording
I (UK) /ʌɪ/

(US) /aɪ/
me (UK) /miː/

(US) /mi/

 /mi/, /mɪ/

/mɪ/
my (UK) /mʌɪ/

(US) /maɪ/
mine (UK) /mʌɪn/

(US) /maɪn/
myself (UK) /mʌɪˈsɛlf/

(US) /maɪˈsɛlf/

 /mᵻˈsɛlf/

/məˈsɛlf/

Notes
  1. Terminological note:
    Authorities use different terms for the inflectional (case) forms of the personal pronouns, such as the oblique-case form me, which is used as a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition, as well as other uses. For instance, one standard work on English grammar, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, uses the term objective case, while another, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, uses the term accusative case. Similarly, some use the term nominative for the form I, while others use the term subjective. Some authorities use the term genitive for forms such as my where others use the term possessive. Some grammars refer to my and mine, respectively, as the dependent genitive and the independent genitive, while others call my a possessive adjective and mine a possessive pronoun.
  2. Other pronouns may be capitalized when referring to the Deity ("God's in His heaven") and, of course, when beginning a sentence. The capitalization of the first person pronoun is distinctive of English, although it is common in other languages to capitalize a second person pronoun, for example Sie in German and Anda in Indonesian.

References
  1. Fowler 2015.
  2. Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. "i | Origin and meaning of the name i". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on Mar 6, 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  4. OED online.
  5. Hogg, Richard, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English language: Volume I The beginnings to 1066. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. "me | Search". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on Nov 12, 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  8. "mine | Origin and meaning of mine". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  9. "my | Origin and meaning of my". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  10. Huddleston & Pullum 2002.
  11. Huddleston & Pullum 2002, pp. 462–463.

Bibliography

Further reading
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