Abstract

This paper deals with the use of personal pronouns as determiners in German and to some extent in English. Its aim is to explain why the transitive use of singular first and second person personal pronouns is highly restricted, also demonstrating that, at least in German, it is not as restricted as is often claimed: It is not the case that transitive ich and du necessarily select NP-complements that contain an abusive word. The explanation includes considerations concerning the different referential properties of transitive uses of plural first and second personal pronouns on the one hand and their singular equivalents on the other and is finally based on Grice's theory of conversation.