The Role of Language in the Development of the Self III: The Significance of Pronouns

The present essay traces the development of personal pronouns, especially the first person pronouns, as an important aspect of the acquisition of language (discussed in Part I) and its implication for the understanding of the nature and functioning of the self. The use of pronouns is analyzed as a special case of the complex relationship of thought and word. The antecedent preverbal development of the capacity for thinking in relation to the acquisition of the capacity to express thoughts in suitable words (in Part II) comes into play with specific reference to the self in the use of first person pronouns. Thus the thought content of the self concept precedes the emergence of the pronoun that specifies, concretizes, and names the subjective self. This perspective opposes concepts of thought-word connection that admit the existence of the self only in the process of naming or as a byproduct of interlocutary exchange. The self is able not only to name itself as an autonomous and independent entity, but can synonymously identify itself as participant in dialogue with other I's who are named you.