Leiden University Student Repository

Fleur, Tobias (2023)

Demistifying the Dual: A Data-oriented Analysis of an Old English Pronoun

Bachelor thesis | Engelse taal en cultuur (BA)

There is little doubt that the dual form in Old English had a secondary function aside from referring to two people. This paper rejects the claim that this secondary function is to imply a familial or intimate bond between the two referents and asserts instead that the dual functioned to limit the number of referents to prevent confusion. This assertion is given credit by the fact that not all incidences of dual pronouns in Old English gloss, verse, and prose imply such familial or intimate bonds. Old English is in an uncommon position in the Indo-European family tree, because only first and second person pronouns may be duals, but the two referents of the pronoun are permitted to be different sexes and the form is not mandatory when speaking of two people. All of these aspects cause people in intimate relationships to be more common referents for dual pronouns, even if these relations do not cause the dual pronouns to happen.

Old English

linguistics

dual linguistic feature

dual

Author

Fleur, Tobias

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Philology

Supervisors

Porck, M. H.
Perez, E. R.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en