The history of pronominal subjects in the languages of northern Europe

这个项目着眼于主题代词（“我”，“她”，“他们”）以及它们的形式和功能如何随着时间的推移而变化。语言创造了新的代词（“她”和“他们”都不是直接从古英语派生而来的）。代词的使用方式可能会有所不同：“She and I both left”（两个代词的协调）在英语中很好，但在法语中无法直译。因此，代词可以从一种模式转变为另一种模式：在这个例子中，法语曾经更像英语，通常认为法语代词在某种意义上变得“更弱”，导致这种变化。有些语言允许省略代词：“I speak Italian”在意大利语中是“Parlo italiano”，没有对应于“I”的单词（“parlo”的“- o”结尾表示主语）。一种语言是否可以省略代词是可以改变的：在这方面，法语曾经更像意大利语，现在更像英语。即使在意大利语中，有时也会使用代词。代词何时恰当取决于复杂的因素，例如，与当前讨论的主题有关，以及最后一次提到它的时间。这些规则也会随着时间的推移而改变。这个项目旨在回答的中心问题是，如何以及为什么这么多的主题代词是随着时间而变化的。我们通过深入研究横跨北方欧洲的三个语言群体中主语代词的历史来做到这一点：凯尔特语（威尔士语、爱尔兰语、布雷东语等），斯拉夫语（俄语、波兰语、保加利亚语等）和日耳曼语（英语、德语、荷兰语等）。虽然日耳曼语在这方面的研究相对较好，但斯拉夫语的工作发展得不太好，许多问题仍然没有答案，凯尔特语的相关工作仍处于起步阶段。我们从这些语言的历史中注释历史文本，以建立过去发现的模式。然后，我们试图解释的模式和变化的背景下，现有的方法，如代词经历一个周期的削弱和替换或省略的主题是连接到一个动词的不同形式的数量或语言的词序方面的想法。通过这种方式，我们希望既能阐明正在研究的语言的历史，又能解决更广泛的问题，即代词系统和语言如何以及为什么会随着时间的推移而变化。

This project looks at subject pronouns ('I', 'she', 'they') and how their form and functions change over time. Languages create new pronouns (neither 'she' nor 'they' are directly descended from Old English). The ways pronouns are used can vary: 'She and I both left' (with coordination of two pronouns) is fine in English but its literal translation is not possible in French. Hence, pronouns can change from one pattern to the other: French used to be more like English in this example, and it is usually thought that French pronouns have in some sense become 'weaker', leading to this change. Some languages allow pronouns to be omitted: 'I speak Italian' is 'Parlo italiano' in Italian, with no word corresponding to 'I' (the '- o' ending of 'parlo' indicates the subject). Whether a language can omit pronouns can change: French was once more like Italian in this respect and has become more like English. Even in Italian, pronouns are sometimes used. When a pronoun is appropriate depends on complex factors, for instance, to do with what is the current topic of discussion and when it was last mentioned. These rules too can change over time. The central question that this project aims to answer is how and why so much to do with subject pronouns is variable over time. We do this by looking in-depth at the history of subject pronouns in three language groups broadly speaking spanning northern Europe: Celtic (Welsh, Irish, Breton etc.), Slavonic (Russian, Polish, Bulgarian etc.) and Germanic (English, German, Dutch etc.). While Germanic is relatively well studied in this regard, work on Slavonic is less well-developed and many questions remain unanswered, and relevant work on Celtic is still in its infancy. We annotate historical texts from the history of these languages to establish what patterns were found in the past. We then try to explain the patterns and changes against the background of existing approaches, such as the idea that pronouns undergo a cycle of weakening and replacement or that omission of subjects is linked to the number of different forms a verb has or to aspects of a language's word order. In this way, we hope both to shed light on the histories of the languages under investigation and to address broader questions about how and why pronominal systems and language in general change over time.