Allomorphic classes of pronouns in English and Ukrainian languages

English reciprocal pronouns are the group pronouns – each other and one another. They serve to express mutuality, as in They helped each other or (one another), or point out towards the common and reciprocal character of the activity of two or more persons as the subject and the object of the action. In Ukrainian they have the correspondent pronoun word combination один одного.

English reciprocal pronouns have the same cases as nouns (e.g.: the possessive case each other’s hand). They are used mainly in the function of object or attribute. These pronouns always retain their lexical meaning and do not perform functions characteristic of functional parts of speech. Prepositions referring to them are always placed before the first element (each or one), e.g.: about each other “один про одного”, for each other “один для одного”, with one another “один з одним”. This witnesses the fact that English reciprocal pronouns are of the bigger semantic unity, than the corresponding Ukrainian combination.

In some cases the English verb with the pronoun each other (one another) has as the Ukrainian correspondence the verb with the suffix - ся, which has a reciprocal-reflective meaning, e.g.:

They kissed each other. – Вони поцілувалися.

They never met each other. – Вони ніколи не зустрічаються.

But in the mentioned cases the usage of pronouns each other and one another is not obligatory in English sentences [5; 68].

Ukrainian defining pronouns ( означальні займенники ) увесь (ввесь, весь), усякий (всякий), кожний (кожен), жодний (жоден), інший, сам, самий are used in the sentence in the role of generalizing-qualitative attributes (узагальнено-якісні означення), besides in the process of substantivation they can be used in the function of subjects and objects. Ukrainian defining pronouns possess the categories of gender, number and case, e.g.: увесь, усе, уся, усі; увесь, усього, усьому, усім, на всьому [15; 164].

English generalizing pronouns (узагальнюючі займенники) include such pronouns as all, each, either, every and its compounds (everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere) which give a generalizing indication of persons, things, properties and circumstances [5; 67–68].

English quantitative pronouns include much, many, (a) few, (a) little, several, enough which may function as pro-nouns (much, many, (a) few, several, (a) little, enough); pro-adjectives (much, (a) little, enough); pro-numerals (many, several, (a) few); and pro-adverbs (much, (a) little, enough) [24; 113].

English contrasting pronouns include other (others, other’s, others’), another (another’s) and otherwise. They are united by the meaning “not the (object, property, circumstance) indicated” and contrast therefore with the demonstrative pronouns [24; 114].

English indefinite-personal pronoun. The English pronoun one is used with the generalizing-personal (showing that the action refers to any subject) and with the indefinite-personal meaning (which refers the action to some person which is not exactly defined). Being used in the function of subject of indefinite-personal sentences, it performs the function, which is in Ukrainian attached to the forms of the third person plural of verbs (One says … Кажуть …) and to the forms of the second person singular (One never knows … Ніколи не знаєш …).

One always denotes some person; grammatically it always has the meaning of singularity, and is used in common and possessive cases (One must always keep one's word. Треба завжди дотримува­тися свого слова).

This pronoun should not be mixed with the word one which serves as replacement. It differs from the pronoun by the fact that it does not have its own meaning, and performs the function of replacement and has other formal characteristics (the form of plural ones).

The pronoun one in the function of subject is widely used with the verbs must, should, ought, can, may. In Ukrainian the mentioned combinations are rendered with the help of unchangeable predicate words (присудкові слова) треба, потрібно, слід, можна: One must take треба взяти; one should study well слід добре вчитися; one can find можна знайти.

The reciprocal pronoun oneself correlates with the pronoun one.

In Ukrainian there is not a single pronoun that could express the person in such an indefinite and generalized way, as one. That is why all similar notions are rendered in Ukrainian with the help of verb forms, which are used without subject [5; 69].

Summing up, we may say that the pronouns are not united by any morphological category, or syntactical functions. So they cannot be regarded as a part of speech. On the other hand they constitute a separate class of words with peculiar meanings and references to the world of reality [24; 99–116].

Discussion questions and exercise tasks:

I. Consider your answers to the following:

1. Present the general characteristics of pronoun as a part of speech. Do pronouns differ from other classes of words?

2. Enumerate the classes of pronouns in the contrasted English and Ukrainian languages. Does their number differ?

3. Highlight the opinions of different linguists concerning the issues of differentiating classes of pronouns.

4. Dwell upon the grammatical categories characteristic of English and Ukrainian pronouns.

5. What are the peculiarities of English versus Ukrainian personal pronouns?

6. Compare English and Ukrainian possessive pronouns.

7. Compare English and Ukrainian reflexive pronouns. State the difference between English reflexive and strengthening pronouns.

8. What are the peculiarities of Ukrainian versus English demonstrative pronouns?

9. What is the correlation between the classes of interrogative and relative pronouns in the contrasted languages?

10. What is the correlation between the classes of indefinite and negative pronouns in English and Ukrainian languages?

11. Characterize the allomorphic classes of pronouns in the contrasted languages.