'Thone vpon thother' - On pronouns one and other with initial th- and t- in Middle English

Abstract

A frequent result produced by a search of the digital corpora of Middle English (henceforth ME) for instances of reduced th’ is a nominal involving the pronouns one or other with initial th- or t- attached. In this study I argue that two different mechanisms, that is reduction of the definite article and misanalysis of the preceding demonstrative, need to be taken into account when scrutinizing the emergence of what turns out to be four different pronouns, namely thone, thother, tone, and tother. First I flesh out the ways in which these pronouns were used in ME. Then I analyze textual evidence which sheds light on the question when and how these pronouns emerged. Finally I argue that while initial th- is always a definite determiner reduced as expected given the DP cycle, initial t- can be either a definite determiner or, less likely, part of a lexicalized pronoun.