Pronouns: Linguistic Structure and Symbolic Power

Pronouns as members of closed paradigms have been considered immune to language contact and linguistic intervention. At the same time, however, they are laden with symbolic power inviting the borrowing and proscription of pronominal forms as a token or even promoter of social change. Pronominal paradigms further manifest internal variability that can be refunctionalized to meet social demands, especially regarding the expression of local or institutionalized power structures. Pronouns may conventionalize the expression of power relations over time. Personal pronouns require a treatment different from other pronoun classes, such as reflexives. In this presentation, I discuss pronouns and pronominal paradigms at the intersection of language contact, linguistic intervention, and refunctionalization. The analysis will be informed by structuralist and cognitive generalizations in the tradition of de Saussure as well as Bourdieu’s social theory. Linguistic structure in the domain of pronouns is viewed as the outcome of at least partially conflicting cognitive and social forces. External influences on language, originating both in language contact and socio-cultural demands, interfere with the structuralist dictum of language as a closed system “un système oú tout se tient” (attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure). Bourdieu’s (1991) conception of language in terms of symbolic capital and power offers an alternative approach that helps to explain at least some of the observable phenomena. The audience will be guided through an anthology of case studies illustrating language contact, linguistic intervention, and refunctionalization in the pronominal domain. They detail the scope of cognitive stability and the extent to which language contact and social forces can induce change thus producing challenges for language standardization. They reveal the complex interplay of language-based cognition, language contact, shifting social ideologies, and linguistic intervention cum standardization.