Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 11. Referring to oneself in the third person
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Chapter 11. Referring to oneself in the third person

A novel construction in text-based computer-mediated communication
  • Tuija Virtanen
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The Pragmatics of Personal Pronouns
This chapter is in the book The Pragmatics of Personal Pronouns

Abstract

This chapter examines the increasingly popular practice in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) of users referring to themselves in the third person, e.g. *runs to the kitchen*. Originating in game environments, the zero subject construction has in recent years spread to other modes of CMC such as discussion forums, microblogging and texting. In these contexts, users take the trouble of typing in asterisks and other signals mimicking the screen view of early chat. Based on data from recreational discussion board threads and microblogging, the chapter focuses on the emergent grammar of the typographically marked, self-referential third-person construction and its pragmatic constraints. Special attention is paid to the variation between pronominal forms and other means of referring to oneself. It is argued that the construction is grammatically and pragmatically innovative in English.

Abstract

This chapter examines the increasingly popular practice in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) of users referring to themselves in the third person, e.g. *runs to the kitchen*. Originating in game environments, the zero subject construction has in recent years spread to other modes of CMC such as discussion forums, microblogging and texting. In these contexts, users take the trouble of typing in asterisks and other signals mimicking the screen view of early chat. Based on data from recreational discussion board threads and microblogging, the chapter focuses on the emergent grammar of the typographically marked, self-referential third-person construction and its pragmatic constraints. Special attention is paid to the variation between pronominal forms and other means of referring to oneself. It is argued that the construction is grammatically and pragmatically innovative in English.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Personal pronouns 1
  4. PART I. Personal pronouns beyond syntax: Competing forms in context
  5. Chapter 2. She said “I don’t like her and her don’t like me” 27
  6. Chapter 3. Free self-forms in discourse-pragmatic functions 45
  7. Chapter 4. Sex-indefinite references to human beings in American English 69
  8. PART II. First and second person pronouns across genres: Advertising, TV series and literature
  9. Chapter 5. ‘ Loquor, ergo sum’ 95
  10. Chapter 6. ‘You’ and ‘I’ in charity fundraising appeals 105
  11. Chapter 7. Breaking the fourth wall 125
  12. Chapter 8. How do person deictics construct roles for the reader? 147
  13. PART III. Referring to the self and the addressee in context of interaction
  14. Chapter 9. First and second person pronouns in two mother-child dyads 173
  15. chapter 10. Pronouns and sociospatial ordering in conversation and fiction 195
  16. Chapter 11. Referring to oneself in the third person 215
  17. PART IV. The pragmatics of impersonal and antecedentless pronouns
  18. Chapter 12. Interpreting antecedentless pronouns in narrative texts 241
  19. Chapter 13. The infinite present 259
  20. Chapter 14. Pragmatic and stylistic uses of personal pronoun one 275
  21. Chapter 15. Impersonal uses of the second person singular and generalized empathy 311
  22. Index 335
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.171.11vir

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Personal pronouns 1
  4. PART I. Personal pronouns beyond syntax: Competing forms in context
  5. Chapter 2. She said “I don’t like her and her don’t like me” 27
  6. Chapter 3. Free self-forms in discourse-pragmatic functions 45
  7. Chapter 4. Sex-indefinite references to human beings in American English 69
  8. PART II. First and second person pronouns across genres: Advertising, TV series and literature
  9. Chapter 5. ‘ Loquor, ergo sum’ 95
  10. Chapter 6. ‘You’ and ‘I’ in charity fundraising appeals 105
  11. Chapter 7. Breaking the fourth wall 125
  12. Chapter 8. How do person deictics construct roles for the reader? 147
  13. PART III. Referring to the self and the addressee in context of interaction
  14. Chapter 9. First and second person pronouns in two mother-child dyads 173
  15. chapter 10. Pronouns and sociospatial ordering in conversation and fiction 195
  16. Chapter 11. Referring to oneself in the third person 215
  17. PART IV. The pragmatics of impersonal and antecedentless pronouns
  18. Chapter 12. Interpreting antecedentless pronouns in narrative texts 241
  19. Chapter 13. The infinite present 259
  20. Chapter 14. Pragmatic and stylistic uses of personal pronoun one 275
  21. Chapter 15. Impersonal uses of the second person singular and generalized empathy 311
  22. Index 335
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