Haas English Human Impersonal Pronouns

Past and Present
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-3-11-172959-6
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 120, 370 Seiten

Reihe: Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]ISSN

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the impersonal uses of ‘you’, ‘one’, ‘they’, and ‘people’ in English. The corpus-based study examines shifts in use from the 17th century to today, discusses further impersonalization strategies, such as passives, and compares impersonal ‘you’ with second-person pronouns in other languages. It highlights key innovations such as the rise of simulating ‘you’ – where the addressee is not a member of the group generalized over – and considers language-external as well as language-internal motivations for these changes. Combining synchronic and diachronic perspectives, the book is a valuable resource for scholars in historical linguistics, pragmatics, and syntax.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Haas, Florian

Über Autor(innen)

Florian Haas, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany.