Fourth person pronoun

[VoidCat]

Spoiler: Cussing

Tagging @Guitar's Cry. @The Hammer @ChristineM. And @Quintessence because I think they may find it interesting the idea of chat being a 4th person pronoun

 

[Quintessence]

I'd ask an English major - they could tell you if this makes sense. I'll defer to them.

That said, the categorization of pronouns into first person, second person, and third person is done on the basis of perspective. First person is the individual that is oneself. Second person is the individual being addressed. Third person is the individual being talked about. And in all cases, pronouns are used in place of a proper name or noun for something; it's a grammatical stand-in. So "chat" wouldn't ever be a pronoun on that basis, as I understand it. It's a noun (person, place, or thing) in this case.

 

[VoidCat]

I'd ask an English major - they could tell you if this makes sense. I'll defer to them.

That said, the categorization of pronouns into first person, second person, and third person is done on the basis of perspective. First person is the individual that is oneself. Second person is the individual being addressed. Third person is the individual being talked about. And in all cases, pronouns are used in place of a proper name or noun for something; it's a grammatical stand-in. So "chat" wouldn't ever be a pronoun on that basis, as I understand it. It's a noun (person, place, or thing) in this case.

I figured you might find the liguistics interesting because of the implications of what that says about our society. The fact that chat and how it's being used in speech outside of the internet and such in the manner above.

 

[VoidCat]

pronouns are used in place of a proper name or noun for something; it's a grammatical stand-in. So "chat" wouldn't ever be a pronoun on that basis, as I understand it. It's a noun (person, place, or thing) in this case.

Hmm...i think since there's no actual chat being used in a setting outside the internet like the way the kids used it in the meme it'd be a pronoun? Not sure. It's replacing the group you talking to similar to using a plural you

 

[ChristineM]

All this grammatical distancing is beyond me. Although i went to school i didn't actually learn much. By the time i was actually able to learn the English language was not on my syllabus. So I'll thank @Quintessence for his impromptu grammar lesson and tell you that in french chat = cat, pronounced shat. Yes i know, my besty, who is English, falls about laughing when ever i mention cats....

A related something of interest (maybe)

 

[The Hammer]

All this grammatical distancing is beyond me. Although i went to school i didn't actually learn much. By the time i was actually able to learn the English language was not on my syllabus. So I'll thank @Quintessence for his impromptu grammar lesson and tell you that in french chat = cat, pronounced shat. Yes i know, my besty, who is English, falls about laughing when ever i mention cats....

A related something of interest (maybe)

View attachment 92415

"Cat , I farted"

 

[Quintessence]

As someone who is not a fan of "Cat, I farted," this just made my day @ChristineM hahaha

Now I have something I can call it to mock it

 

[Jainarayan]

A fourth person is possible. It exists in Ojibwe:

Like most Algonquian languages, Ojibwe distinguishes two different kinds of third person, a proximate and an obviative. The proximate is a traditional third person, while the obviative (also frequently called "fourth person") marks a less important third person if more than one third person is taking part in an action. Ojibwe grammar

And other languages, including, interestingly, Hindi and Bangla.

Additional persons

 

[Revoltingest]

All this grammatical distancing is beyond me.

Same here.
This is why I expect to simply use "they" for
both the singular & plural non-gender specific,
as it has been for many centuries.
Adding a complication to a language when
it adds no useful meaning gets selected against.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Spoiler: Cussing

View attachment 92408

Tagging @Guitar's Cry. @The Hammer @ChristineM. And @Quintessence because I think they may find it interesting the idea of chat being a 4th person pronoun

Cool idea. Technology always changes language, and when it does it goes from vernacular to official. I don't support or oppose it. I think it will occur how it occurs. The more we increase virtual communication I suspect the more we'll need fourth person pronouns, but I suspect even these may fade as virtual reality blends more and more into reality.

 

[crossfire]

It has been said that cats rule the internet. I guess this means they really do.

 

[mangalavara]

A fourth person is possible. It exists in Ojibwe:

Like most Algonquian languages, Ojibwe distinguishes two different kinds of third person, a proximate and an obviative. The proximate is a traditional third person, while the obviative (also frequently called "fourth person") marks a less important third person if more than one third person is taking part in an action. Ojibwe grammar

And other languages, including, interestingly, Hindi and Bangla.

Additional persons

I had a feeling that there is at least one language out there with fourth person in its grammar. I’m not surprised that a Native American language has it because from what I understand, those languages are really, really different from Indo-European languages.

I didn’t know that about Bangla and Hindi.