Reflexive pronoun

A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun or pronoun to which it refers (its antecedent) within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent (see binding). In some languages, there is a difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns; but the exact conditions that determine whether something is bound are not yet well defined and depend on the language in question. It depends on the part of the sentence that the pronoun is in.

In English, the reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, thyself, himself (in some dialects, "hisself"), herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves (in some dialects, "theirselves"). In the statements "I see him" and "She sees you", the objects are not the same persons as the subjects, and regular pronouns are used. However, when the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing, the reflexive pronoun is used: "I see myself" or "She sees herself".

Origins and usage

In Indo-European languages, the reflexive pronoun has its origins in Proto-Indo-European. In some languages, the distinction between the normal objective and the reflexive pronouns exists mainly in the third person: whether one says "I like me" or "I like myself", there is no question that the object is the same person as the subject; but, in "They like them(selves)", there can be uncertainty about the identity of the object unless a distinction exists between the reflexive and the nonreflexive. In some languages, this distinction includes genitive forms: see, for instance, the Swedish examples below.

In languages with a distinct reflexive pronoun form, it is often gender-neutral.

Non-reflexive usage in English

Sometimes, the reflexive pronoun is added to highlight its antecedent. A reflexive pronoun used in this appositive way is called an intensive pronoun and, in English, is accepted as standard: for example, "I, myself, wrote this" and "We, ourselves, gave the card to our parents."

It is increasingly common to use reflexive pronouns without local linguistic antecedents to refer to discourse participants or people already referenced in a discourse: for example, "Please, forward the information to myself." Such formulations are usually considered non-standard. Within the linguistics literature, reflexives with discourse antecedents are often referred to as "logophors." Standard English does allow the use of logophors in some contexts: for example, "John was angry. Embarrassing pictures of himself were on display." However, within Standard English, this logophoric use of reflexives is generally limited to positions where the reflexive does not have a coargument.^[1] The newer non-standard usage does not respect this limitation. In some cases, reflexives without local antecedents may be better analyzed as emphatic pronouns without any true reflexive sense.

It is common in some subsets of the English-speaking population to use standard objective pronouns to express reflexive relations, especially in the first and sometimes second persons, and especially for a recipient: for example, "I want to get me some supper." This usage is non-standard.

Reflexive pronouns in languages other than English

Chinese

In Mandarin Chinese, the reflexive pronoun is zìjǐ (自己), meaning 'self'^[2]. The antecedent to which it refers can be inferred by context, which is generally the subject of the sentence:

• Wǒ bǎohù zìjǐ. (我保护自己。) (I protect myself.)
• Tā bǎohù zìjǐ. (他保护自己。) (He protects himself.)
• Wǒ gěi tā zìjǐ de shū. (我给他自己的书。) (I gave him my own book.)
• Tā gěi wǒ zìjǐ de shū. (他给我自己的书。) (He gave me his own book.)

The antecedent can be reiterated before the reflexive pronoun; this can be used to refer to an antecedent that's not the subject:

• Wǒ gěi tā wǒ zìjǐ de shū. (我给他我自己的书。) (I gave him my own book.)
• Wǒ gěi tā tā zìjǐ de shū. (我给他他自己的书。) (I gave him his own book.)

Like English, the reflexive can also be used to emphasize the antecedent^[2]:

• Wáng xiānshēng zìjǐ zuò le. (王先生自己做了。) (Mr. Wang himself did it.)

The reflexive can also be the subject of an embedded clause, unlike English, which must use the non-reflexive form:

• Tā juédé zìjǐ hěn cōngmíng. (他觉得自己很聪明。) (He feels that he is very clever.)

Also unlike English, the reflexive can refer to antecedents outside of the embedded clause. Because of this, it may be ambiguous whether the antecedent refers to the subject of the main clause or the embedded clause, in which case it may be necessary to reiterate the antecedent:

• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like me/himself.)
• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān wǒ zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢我自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like me.)
• Wǒ juédé Wáng xiānshēng bù xǐhuān tā zìjǐ. (我觉得王先生不喜欢他自己。) (I feel that Mr. Wang doesn't like himself.)

The reflexive pronoun in Cantonese Chinese, jihgéi, cognate to Mandarin zìjǐ (and thus also written as 自己), also follows the same rules^[3]. This was also the case in Classical Chinese, which simply used 己^[4] (Old Chinese: *kəʔ^[5]).

Danish

• Jeg beskytter ham. (I protect him.)
• Han beskytter ham. (He protects him. Him designates a person other than the one designated by He.)
• Han beskytter sig selv. (He protects himself.)

In Danish, there is also a difference between normal and reflexive genitives:

• Anna gav Maria hendes bog. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Anna gav Maria sin bog. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria.)

Esperanto

The Esperanto reflexive pronoun is si, or sia for the possessive (to which can be added -j for plural agreement and -n for direct object).

• Li legas liajn librojn. (He reads his (someone else's) books.)
• Li legas siajn librojn. (He reads his (own) books.)
• Ŝi legas siajn librojn. (She reads her (own) books.)
• Ili legas siajn librojn. (They read their (own) books.)
• Li amas lin. (He loves him (someone else).)
• Li amas sin. (He loves himself.)
• Li rimarkis ŝian amon al si. (He noticed her love for herself (reflexive).)
• Li rimarkis ŝian amon al li. (He noticed her love for him (using a normal pronoun).)
• Li rimarkis sian amon al si. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for himself (reflexive).)
• Li rimarkis sian amon al li. (He noticed his (own, reflexive) love for him (someone else, not reflexive).)
• Li diras, ke la hundo lavas sian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing its (the dog's) face.)
• Li diras, ke la hundo lavas lian vizaĝon. (He says that the dog is washing his (the speaker's or someone else's, but not the dog's) face.)

French

In French, the main reflexive pronoun is 'se', with its indefinite form soi.

There are also intensifying reflexive pronouns, such as moi-même, toi-même, lui-même/elle-même/soi-même, nous-mêmes, vous-mêmes and eux-mêmes/elles-mêmes.

Icelandic

There is only one reflexive pronoun in Icelandic and that is the word sig. It does not differ between genders nor number.

The reflexive pronouns are as such:

• Reflexive pronoun: sig (himself/itself/herself/themselves)
• reflexive possessive pronoun: sinn (his/her/its/their)

Examples

The reflexive pronoun refers to the third person:

• Hann talar um sig. (masc. sing.) (He talks about himself)
• Þeir tala um sig. (masc. plur.) (They talk about themselves)
• Stúlkan flýtti sér heim. (fem. sing.) (the girl hurried [herself] home)
• Þær flýttu sér heim. (neut. plur.) (they [the girls] hurried [themselves] home)
• Barnið naut sín. (neut. sing.) (the child enjoyed itself)
• Börnin nutu sín. (neut. plur.) (the children enjoyed themselves)

Latin

In the 1st and 2nd person, Latin uses the ordinary oblique forms of the personal pronouns as reflexive pronouns. In the 3rd person, Latin uses the special reflexive pronoun se, which is the same for all genders and numbers, and declined in all cases except the nominative and the vocative.

Example

• per se

Novial

(Novial is a constructed language, mostly based on Romance languages.)

• Lo vida lo. (He sees him.)
• Lo vida se. (He sees himself.)
• Anna donad lan libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Anna donad sen libre a Maria. (Anna gave her [Anna's] book to Maria.)

Portuguese

• Quando ele o vir. (When he sees him.)
• Quando ele se vir. (When he sees himself.)

Russian

• Он любит свою жену. On ljubit svoju ženu. (He loves his wife (his own).)
• Он любит его жену. On ljubit jego ženu (He loves his wife (someone else's).)

Serbian

• Ana je dala Mariji njenu knjigu. (Ana gave her [Maria's] book to Maria.)
• Ana je dala Mariji svoju knjigu. (Ana gave her [Ana's] book to Maria.)

Spanish

• Él la ve (He sees her/it)
• Él le* ve (He sees his/or her)
• Él lo ve (He sees him/it)
• Él/or Ella se* ve (He/or She sees himself/or herself)

*always neuter^{[clarification needed]}

See also

Look up reflexive pronoun in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Reflexive Clause
• Reciprocal (grammar)
• Reciprocal pronoun
• Reflexive verb

References