Query Details

Query Subject:	Pronoun "I"
Author:	Rolf Tatje
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Historical Linguistics Writing Systems
Subject Language(s):	English Finnish

Query:	Wed, 21 Jan 1998 11:10:08 +0100 Rolf Tatje he252ta@unidui.uni-duisburg.de Pronoun ''I'' A friend of mine who is not on the list asked me why the English pronoun ''I'' is written with a capital letter but the other pronouns are not. I looked into what I thought were the relevant chapters of quite a lot of language histories, books on orthography etc. but without success. I asked my native speaker colleagues, but they, too, could only think of the same explanations as myself, namely: 1. It is purely conventional. 2. Perhaps ''I'' was capitalized in order to distinguish it in (medieval) handwriting from similar-looking i's, u's, v's etc. Neither idea appears very satisfying to me so perhaps someone out there could suggest a better (or even the one and only correct) answer (if there is any) or point me to some literature. I promise to write a summary, if the results are interesting enough. Thanks in advance. Rolf Tatje FB 3 - Romanistik Gerhard-Mercator-Universitat D-47048 Duisburg Phone (+49-203) 379-2605 Fax (+49-203) 379-1952
LL Issue:	9.99
Date posted:	22-Jan-1998
Back

Sums main page

New from Cambridge University Press!