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Pronouns Questionnaire

J. Sebastián Guzmán V.

Universidad Industrial de Santander

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1. What are pronouns and what is their use? Provide a definition for both languages,

English and Spanish.

In Spanish, RAE (2009) states that pronouns “presentan rasgos gramaticales de

persona, (...) se caracterizan asimismo por designar a los participantes en el discurso.” And in

the English language, the name of pronouns implies that it replaces the nouns, but it is best to

look at them as comprising a varied class of closed-class words with nominal (like a noun

phrase) function (p. 335), according to Quirk, ​Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1985).
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2. List the different classes of pronouns in both languages. Establish a comparison

chart explaining the possible similarities and differences.

La Real Academia Española (2009) establishes the following table:

Table 1

​ eprinted from​ ​Nueva gramática de la lengua española (Vol. 2) C

Note: R ​ opyright 2009 by Espasa Libros.
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In the English language, the following scheme has been proposed by Quirk, ​Greenbaum,

Leech & Svartvik (1985):

Figure 1. ​Pronoun subclasses. Reprinted from ​A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language ​(p. 345), R.

Quirk, S. ​Greenbaum, G.Leech & J. Svartvik, (1985), London: Longman. Copyright 1985 by Longman Group

Limited.

The observed similarities and differences of pronouns in both languages are expressed in:

Table 2

SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES

- the majority of personal, possessive, - the existence of the personal pronoun

relative, interrogative, demonstrative
and indefinite pronouns have their
equivalent in the other language.
(I - Yo; mío/mía - mine; who - quien;
qué - what; este/esta - this)
“it” in English.
(It made me sick <​the food​> - <​la
comida> ​ me ha caído mal)
- the form of reflexive and reciprocal
form between Eng and Spa is quite
different.
(He showered ​himself​ - Él ​se​ duchó
Nos​ odiábamos - We hated one
another​)
-Demonstratives in Spanish are more
varied than in English, also due to
gender inflection. (aquel/aquella)
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3. What difference is there regarding level of formality in English and Spanish?

Explain the difference and exemplify it.

Quirk, ​Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1985)​ state that “formal Englishs follows the

normative grammatical tradition which associates with the subjective pronouns with the

nominative case of pronouns in inflectional languages such as Latin, and the objective case with

the oblique cases in such languages. Hence, the subjective form appears not only in the subject

position, but in that of subject complement.” (p. 337)

Examples:

- Subject function: ​She was mad.

- Subject complement function: ​It was she <formal>; It was her <informal>.

According to RAE, levels of formality are reflected on the use of Leísmo in the language:

“A. Leísmo de persona masculino: uso del pronombre ​le​ como acusativo con sustantivos

masculinos de persona: A Mario le premiaron en el colegio.” (Española, 2009, p. 315)

“B. Leísmo de persona femenino: uso del pronombre ​le ​como acusativo con sustantivos

femeninos de persona: A Laura le premiaron en el colegio.” (Española, 2009, p. 315)

“C. Leísmo de cosa: uso del pronombre ​le c​ omo acusativo con sustantivos de cosa: Te

devuelvo el libro porque ya le he leído.” (Española, 2009, p. 315)

“Una variante de los tipos A y B es el llamado leísmo de cortesía, que consiste en

limitar el leísmo a los usos en que le concuerda con la forma usted, como en Le saludo

atentamente; Le atenderé muy gustosamente.” (Española, 2009, p. 315)

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“Se considera (...) incorrecto el leísmo de cosa (tipo C), tanto en singular, más frecuente

(El cuadro aún no le he colgado), como en plural (Los cuadros aún no les he colgado).”

(Española, 2009, p. 316)

4. Explain each class of pronouns and their use. Write an original sentence to illustrate

their use.

Demonstrative pronouns are used to indicate or point out a person, thing or place

(E.g. This is the one I owe you; ¿Debo reparar aquellos?). Unlike demonstratives,

Indefinite pronouns are used to point out non-specific things (E.g. Somebody has got to

have seen something; Muchos no son agradecidos). Interrogative pronouns are used in

questions and take the function of a noun in the syntactic sentence (E.g. Who won the

war?; ¿Cuál es el que quieres?). Possessive pronouns are those that can substitute the

noun by acting as an adjective that shows possession (E.g. Have you taken my job?; El

más importante de todos es el suyo). Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions which are

reciprocated (E.g. We helped one another; Nos dimos la mano). Reflexive pronouns in

English refer to another noun or pronoun in sentence, in Spanish they agree with person,

number (E.g. I hit myself; Debo alistarme pronto). Relative pronouns add more

information, allow to conjoin two parts of the sentence by making reference to a

preceding noun (Bello, 1951) (Columbus, who is a historical known figure, has been

forgotten in new generations; La casa donde él vive es gigantesca).

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5. What is the difference between reflexive and reciprocal pronouns? Analyze their use

and function in both languages.

“Los pronombres recíprocos pueden considerarse un subgrupo de los reflexivos (y, por

tanto, de los personales), pero su significado es más complejo. En efecto, la oración reflexiva

Ella se cuida​ designa una situación en que la persona que cuida es a la vez la persona cuidada.

La oración de significado recíproco ​Ellos se cuidan unos a otros​ describe, en cambio, una

situación en que cada uno de los individuos actúa sobre los demás y a la vez recibe de ellos esa

misma acción. Las relaciones de reciprocidad pueden ser no estrictas. Así sucede cuando los

pronombres no comparten plenamente su referencia con sus antecedentes, como en​ Las hojas de

los árboles se tocaban​ (donde no se dice que cada hoja toque a todas las demás) o ​Las

muñecas rusas suelen estar unas dentro de otras.​ ” (Española, 2009, p. 307)

“Los pronombres recíprocos pueden ser tónicos o átonos. Son átonos los

plurales nos, os y se, que funcionan como complementos directos (​Nos abrazamos

llorando)​ o indirectos (​Se dijeron de todo)​ . Los tres admiten otros valores, entre ellos el

reflexivo, pero se deshacen los casos de ambigüedad recurriendo a los pronombres

tónicos: ​Nos echábamos la culpa a nosotros mismos (​ valor reflexivo) ~ ​Nos echábamos

la culpa unos a otros​ (valor recíproco).” (Española, 2009, p. 307)

“Reflexive pronouns end with -​self​ (singular) and -​selves​ (plural). These suffixes are

added to the determinative possessive forms for the 1st and the 2nd person (a), and to the

objective form for the 3rd person (b): (a) myself - yourself - ourselves - yourselves; (b) himself -

herself - itself - themselves.” (Quirk, ​Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985​, p. 355)
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“The reflexive pronoun has two distinct uses: basic and emphatic. The basic uses,

functioning as object or complement whilst having the subject of its clause as its antecedent.”

(Quirk, ​Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985​, p. 356)

Examples:

- Direct object: ​We bathed ourselves.

- Indirect object: ​He gave himself the present.

- Subject complement: ​She is not herself today.

- Prep. complement: ​The machine starts by itself.

“Then, in the emphatic use (...) the pronoun is in an appositional relation to its

antecedent.” (Quirk, ​Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985​, p. 356)

Examples:

- Appositional phrase: They shouldn’t go themselves./They themselves shouldn’t

go.

“The reciprocal pronouns ​each other​ and ​one another​ are related to the reflexive pronouns in that

they can be said to express a ‘two-way reflexitve relationship’. Yet there are important

differences between reflexive and reciprocal pronouns: Compare:

Adam and Eve blamed themselves - Adam and Eve blamed each other.” (Quirk, ​Greenbaum,

Leech & Svartvik, 1985​, p. 364)

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Referencias

Bello, A. (1951). Gramática: gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los

americanos.

Española, R. A. (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española (Vol. 2). Espasa Libros.

Quirk, Randolph; Sidney Greenbaum; Geoffrey Leech; and Jan Svartvik (1985).. London:

Longman.