Grammatical person

Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to the participant role of a referent, such as the speaker, the addressee, and others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns. It also frequently affects verbs, sometimes nouns, and possessive relationships as well.

Related Topics:
Linguistics - Deictic - Speaker - Addressee - Pronoun - Verb - Noun - Possessive

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English traditionally distinguishes three grammatical persons:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The personal pronouns I and we are said to be in the first person. The speaker uses this in the singular to refer to himself or herself; in the plural, to speak of a group of people including the speaker.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The personal pronoun you is in the second person. It refers to the addressee. You is used in both the singular and plural; thou is the archaic second-person singular pronoun.

Related Topics:
Thou - Archaic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All other pronouns and all nouns are in the third person. Anyone or anything other than the speaker and the addressee is referred to in the third person.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When used as adjectives, they should be hyphenated like first-person, second-person, and third-person. The grid below shows what different combinations of tense and grammatical person are generally appropriate:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Indo-European languages, first-, second-, and third-person pronouns are all marked for singular and plural forms, and sometimes dual forms as well (see grammatical number). Some languages, especially in Western Europe, distinguish degrees of formality and informality (see T-V distinction).

Related Topics:
Indo-European - Singular - Plural - Dual - Grammatical number - T-V distinction

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other languages use different classifying schemes, especially in the plural pronouns. One frequently found difference not present in most Indo-European languages is a contrast between inclusive and exclusive, a distinction of first-person pronouns of including or excluding the addressee.

Related Topics:
Inclusive - Exclusive

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other languages have much more elaborate systems of formality that go well beyond the T-V distinction, and use many different pronouns and verb forms that express the speaker's relationship with the people she addresses. Many Malayo-Polynesian languages, such as Javanese and Balinese are well known for their complex systems of honorifics; Japanese and Korean also have similar systems to a lesser extent.

Related Topics:
Malayo-Polynesian languages - Javanese - Balinese - Japanese - Korean

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In many languages, the verb takes a form dependent on this person and whether it is singular or plural. In English, this clearly happens with the verb to be as follows:

Related Topics:
Verb - English

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• I am (first-person singular)
• thou art (second-person singular, extinct or archaic)
• he, she, or it is (third-person singular)
• we are (first-person plural)
• you are (second-person plural/singular)
• they are (third-person plural)
 
Grammatical person: Additional persons ►