Formation of Reflexive Pronouns

Asked Mar 14 '15 at 09:24

Active Mar 14 '15 at 13:54

Viewed 163 times

In English possessive adjectives and reflexive pronouns are

I - My - Myself
You - Your - Yourself
He - His - Himself *
She - Her - Herself *
It - Its - Itself *
They (sing.) - Their - Themself *
We - Our - Ourselves
You (pl.) - Your - Yourselves
They - Their - Themselves *

Except for the starred ones, all reflexive pronouns are formed by combining possessive adjectives and the word "self". But starred ones are formed differently. They use objective pronouns. Why are the formations of these reflexive pronouns different?

edited Mar 14 '15 at 13:54

John Lawler

107,887

asked Mar 14 '15 at 09:24

jnbrq -Canberk Sönmez

"herself" is not from the possessive ponoun "her"; it is from the OBJECTIVE pronoun "her". And "itself" is not from the possessive pronoun "its"; it is from the OBJECTIVE pronoun "it". – Brian Hitchcock Mar 14 '15 at 09:33
Have you visited [ell.se] ? – Kris Mar 14 '15 at 09:35
You've missed out gender-neutral third-person singular They - Their - Themself*. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 14 '15 at 09:38
@BrianHitchcock Thank you for noticing my mistakes. I edited my question. – jnbrq -Canberk Sönmez Mar 14 '15 at 10:08
@EdwinAshworth Oxford Dictionaries says that themself form is not accepted by everyone. But I have added it. – jnbrq -Canberk Sönmez Mar 14 '15 at 10:10
The OED says that we used to have myself and meself, thyself and theeself, presumably used in different dialects of English. Why did we settle on the selection we have now? Possible either (a) some of these sound better than the alternatives or (b) random chance. – Peter Shor Mar 14 '15 at 10:38
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First and second persons are always different from third in usage and type. First and second person are deictic, while third person is referential. It's common to find some structural difference between the two types in their morphology, too, since they change at different rates for different reasons, – John Lawler Mar 14 '15 at 13:57
Tangentially related. – tchrist Mar 14 '15 at 14:45

Formation of Reflexive Pronouns

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