English Human Impersonal Pronouns: Past and Present
Apr 2026 · Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL] Book 120 · Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
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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.
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...
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About the author
Florian Haas, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany.
Florian Haas, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany.
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