Bro is a pronoun because it’s used to replace a noun. And it’s a neopronoun because pronouns are a closed class in English. We don’t call new nouns and adjectives neonouns or neoadjectives. In Japanese, pronouns are an open class and nouns frequently become pronouns. For example, the Japanese noun “self” (自分) has also become a first-person pronoun. Americans are doing something similar, turning nouns like “bro” and “blood” into third-person singular pronouns. HOWEVER you are correct that they lack a reflexive form (-self/-selves), which English personal pronouns usually have.
“One” used to just be a noun, but became a pronoun after the 1200s due to French influence.
Actually, “they” is also a neopronoun. It also comes from the 1200s, and this time from Norse.
I think 800 years is too long for something to still count as “neo”.
Also, if you want me to believe that “bro” is a defective 3S pronoun, give me a peer-reviewed linguistics article that demonstrates why it counts as that instead of as a proper noun — not a Wiktionary page that cites no sources and whose discussion page has gone untouched in literally eight years, and an assertion that “bro” is a pronoun “because it replaces another noun” (I guess all synonyms are pronouns, then?)
Edit: Like, you can do the same thing as “bro visited his friend” with so many different nouns that if all of them count as pronouns you might as well say that the class has been opened. Remember “Baby Got Back”?
I literally never claimed that I could do that, but whatever, I don’t feel like arguing. This is one of those situations where I feel pretty confident that I’m right but where I don’t actually know enough to be able to explain exactly how confidently and without getting misinterpreted. The problem with that type of situation is of course that someone far more confident can just say things that I think are wrong unchallenged, God forbid.
Again, if only there were any scholarly linguistics articles about the usage of “bro” in 2023/2024 that would shine a light on why it is or (as I see it) isn’t a pronoun.
Yeah I don’t think there’s an article on the phenomenon yet unfortunately. So let’s just shelve this argument, cause the only way we’re going to figure out who’s right is by one of us getting a degree in linguistics.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bro#Pronoun
Bro is a pronoun because it’s used to replace a noun. And it’s a neopronoun because pronouns are a closed class in English. We don’t call new nouns and adjectives neonouns or neoadjectives. In Japanese, pronouns are an open class and nouns frequently become pronouns. For example, the Japanese noun “self” (自分) has also become a first-person pronoun. Americans are doing something similar, turning nouns like “bro” and “blood” into third-person singular pronouns. HOWEVER you are correct that they lack a reflexive form (-self/-selves), which English personal pronouns usually have.
“One” used to just be a noun, but became a pronoun after the 1200s due to French influence.
Actually, “they” is also a neopronoun. It also comes from the 1200s, and this time from Norse.
*bronoun
I think 800 years is too long for something to still count as “neo”.
Also, if you want me to believe that “bro” is a defective 3S pronoun, give me a peer-reviewed linguistics article that demonstrates why it counts as that instead of as a proper noun — not a Wiktionary page that cites no sources and whose discussion page has gone untouched in literally eight years, and an assertion that “bro” is a pronoun “because it replaces another noun” (I guess all synonyms are pronouns, then?)
Edit: Like, you can do the same thing as “bro visited his friend” with so many different nouns that if all of them count as pronouns you might as well say that the class has been opened. Remember “Baby Got Back”?
I think you’re overestimating how many nouns you can use as a pronoun without raising some eyebrows.
Am not!
Well you can go on TikTok and say “bro is posting bro’s L’s” but you can’t just go say “human is posting human’s L’s”
I literally never claimed that I could do that, but whatever, I don’t feel like arguing. This is one of those situations where I feel pretty confident that I’m right but where I don’t actually know enough to be able to explain exactly how confidently and without getting misinterpreted. The problem with that type of situation is of course that someone far more confident can just say things that I think are wrong unchallenged, God forbid.
Again, if only there were any scholarly linguistics articles about the usage of “bro” in 2023/2024 that would shine a light on why it is or (as I see it) isn’t a pronoun.
Yeah I don’t think there’s an article on the phenomenon yet unfortunately. So let’s just shelve this argument, cause the only way we’re going to figure out who’s right is by one of us getting a degree in linguistics.
Wanna bet who gets the degree first?
You, cause I just graduated.