In Modern English, ''I'' is the

singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...

, first-person

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...

Morphology

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

Modern English, ''I'' has five distinct word

forms Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

: * ''I'': the

nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

(subjective) form **''I'' is the only pronoun form that is always capitalized in English. This practice became established in the late 15th century, though lowercase ''i'' was sometimes found as late as the 17th century. * ''me'': the

accusative The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...

(objective) forms (The accusative case is also called the '

oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) *Oblique angle, in geometry *Oblique triangle, in geometry * Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...

'.) * ''my:'' the dependent

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

(possessive) form * ''mine'': the independent

* ''myself'': the reflexive form

History

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

had a first person pronoun that

inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defi ...

for four cases and three numbers. ''I'' originates from

(OE) ''ic'', which had in turn originated from the continuation of

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

*''ik'', and ''ek''; The asterisk denotes an unattested form, but ''ek'' was attested in the

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...

inscriptions (in some cases notably showing the variant ''eka''; see also

ek erilaz ''Erilaz'' or ''Erilaʀ'' is a Migration period Proto-Norse word attested on various Elder Futhark inscriptions, which has often been interpreted to mean " magician" or "rune master",* viz. one who is capable of writing runes to magical effect. How ...

). Linguists assume ''ik'' to have developed from the unstressed variant of ''ek''. Variants of ''ic'' were used in various English dialects up until the 1600s. The Proto-Germanic root came, in turn, from the

Proto Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

(PIE) *''eg-.'' *Early OE circa 700 CE, late, and ME Old English ''me'' and ''mec'' are from Proto-Germanic *''meke'' (accusative) and *''mes'' (dative). ''Mine'' is from Proto-Germanic *''minaz'', and ''my'' is a reduced form of ''mine''. All of these are from PIE root *''me''-.

Syntax

Functions

''I'' can appear as a subject,

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...

, or predicative complement. The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. me occasionally appears as a

modifier Modifier may refer to: * Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning ** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun ** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...

in a noun phrase. * Subject: ''I'm here; me being here''; ''my being there''; ''I paid for myself to be here.'' * Object: ''She saw me''; ''She introduced him to me; I saw myself.'' * Predicative complement: ''The only person there was me'' / ''I.'' * Dependent determiner: ''I met my friend.'' * Independent determiner: ''This is mine.'' * Adjunct: ''I did it myself.'' * Modifier: ''the me generation''

Coordinative constructions

The above applies when the pronoun stands alone as the subject or object. In some varieties of English (particularly in formal registers), those rules also apply in coordinative constructions such as "you and I". * "My husband and I wish you a merry Christmas." * "Between you and me..." In many dialects of informal English, the accusative is sometimes used when the pronoun is part of a coordinative ''subject'' construction, as in * "Phil and me wish you a merry Christmas." This is stigmatized but common in many dialects.

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take

dependents A dependant is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income. A common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included in this definition. In some jurisdictions, supporting a dependant may enabl ...

, but it is possible for ''me'' to have many of the same kind of dependents as other

noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...

s. *

Relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...

modifier: ''the me I'd like to be''; ''*me I'd like to be'' * Determiner: ''the me I'd like to be''; ''*the me'' *

Adjective phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal ( ...

modifier: ''the real me'' *

Adverb phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be div ...

external modifier: ''Not even me''

Semantics

''I'''s referents are limited to the individual

person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

speaking or writing, the first person. ''I'' is always

definite In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...

and

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the fina ...

Pronunciation

According to the

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

, the following pronunciations are used:

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * *
Etymology of I
. etymonline.com. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. *
Etymology of Me
. etymonline.com. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. * Halleck, Elaine (editor).

. LINGUIST List 9.253., n.p., Web. 20 Feb. 1998. * Jacobsen, Martin (editor).

. LINGUIST List 9.253., n.p., Web. 20 Feb. 1998. * Mahoney, Nicole.
Language Change
. nsf.gov. n.p. 12 July 2008. Web. 21 Dec. 2010 * Wells, Edward.
Further Elucidation on the Capitalization of 'I' in English
. (a paper in progress). Lingforum.com. n.p., Web. 25 Dec. 2010