Compound Pronouns in English and Albanian

Introduction

Compounding is one of the most prolific word-formation techniques in all languages. It is defined as a word-formation process that denotes a lexical unit made up of more than one word that functions as such not only grammatically, but also semantically. Compounding is present in all parts of speech. Not only does the newly formed word have a new meaning, but also a new stress. A typical characteristic of English compounds is their spelling, as it appears in three different forms: hyphenated, solid, or open. The Albanian language, on the other hand, has another word-formation technique in addition to compounding, and that is agglutination. Agglutination in Albanian grammar is found in almost all parts of speech, but it is particularly prevalent in pronouns.

Methodology

The study is based on the identification of differences between compounding in both languages. Compound pronouns have been collected from the Dictionary of Contemporary Albanian Language (1980) and the Oxford Student’s Dictionary. Translation of pronouns from one language into the other: one English pronoun – different Albanian pronouns, and vice versa. Quantitative analysis in both languages shows that Albanian compound (agglutinated) pronouns outnumber English compound pronouns → 81: 18. The graph is as follows:

Qualitative analysis deals with the elements constituting the compound pronouns, and the resulting ratio of constituent structures for Alb. vs Eng. pronouns is → 9:2. The graph is as follows:

Agglutinated pronouns in Albanian comprise 15.5% of all agglutinated words in the DCAL, while in English, according to the OSD, only 1%.

Compound Pronouns in English

Compound pronouns in English are made up of a number of indefinite pronouns, namely 11, as well as all reflexive pronouns, namely 7. Compound pronouns in English are, in fact, inconsiderable. Graphically, they appear as follows:

As far as spelling is concerned, compound pronouns are written as solid compounds. 17 of them are made up of two words, whereas one is made up of three words. They are as follows:

Whosoever → Who + so + Ever

The structure of compound pronouns is as follows:

somebody someone, anyone, everyone, everybody, everything, anything, nothing, whatever, whoever, whosoever

myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, themselves

The pronoun “themselves” is an exception as it is not formed by the possessive adjective of third person plural, “their”, but by the personal pronoun “they” in the form of an object + reflexive pronoun “self” in plural.

Compound-Agglutinated Pronouns in Albanian

The majority of indefinite pronouns in Albanian are agglutinated ones, where pronouns formed by two elements predominate, namely 50. Another 25 pronouns are formed by the agglutination of three elements, and only 6 of them by four elements. The DCAL (1980) has 81 pronouns formed by agglutination, which make up 15.5 % of all agglutinated words.

The graph as follows:

Agglutinated pronouns according to the Dictionary of Contemporary Albanian Language:

akëcili, akëkush, akësecili, akësekush, asfarëgjë, asgjë, asgjëkafshë, asgjësend, askurrfarë, askurrgjë, askurrkush, askush, asndonjë, asndonjëri, asnjeri, asnjë, asnjëfarë, asnjëfarëlloj, asnjëri, asodore, cilido, cilado, çdo, çdofarë, çdokush, çdolloj, çdonjëri, çfarë, çfarëdo, çfarëdolloj, çka, çkado, çoç, çdokush, diç, diçka, dikush, disa, dokushdo, farëgjëje, farësendi, gjëkafshë, gjësend(i), gjithçka, gjithçmos, gjithfarë, gjithfarëlloj, gjithfarësoj, gjithkush, gjithmbarë, gjithsecili, gjithsekush, hiçasgjë, hiçgjë, hiçgjëkafshë, hiçgjësend(i), hiçmosgjë, kësisoj, kësodore, kurrfarë, kurrgjë, kurrkush, kushdo, moskush, mosnjeri, ndokush, ndonjë, ndonjëri, njëfarë, pakkush, rrallëkush, secili, secilido, seç, sedo, sekush, sikush, shumëkush, tjetërkush, vetvete, xhanxhin

Indefinite pronouns formed by agglutination have the following structures:

Indefinite Pronoun + Pronoun “Who = Kush”:

1. gjithkush, gjithsekush, shumëkush, tjetërkush, çdokush, pakkush.

Indefinite Pronoun + Indefinite Pronoun:

1. çdonjëri, gjithçmos, hiçasgjë, hiçgjë, gjithmbarë;

In the pronouns hiçgjëkafshë, hiçgjësend, the element hiç (from Turkish) is united with the pronouns gjëkafshë and gjësend, formed by (gjë+kafshë, gjë+send).

Another category of pronouns is made up of an indefinite pronoun and a fixed form, e.g., kushdo, cilido, dikush, ndokush, sekush, askush, asnjë, asgjë, asnjeri, etc.

According to the fixed element, serving as a formative element, indefinite pronouns are classified as follows:

1. A fixed element at the beginning of the word and a second element which is declined. The fixed element might be:

a) pronominal: this group includes the pronouns akë+kush, akë+cili, and akë+sekush, akë+secili, where the element akë is attached to the pronouns sekush, secili.

b) verbal: this includes di, ndo (formed by the agglutination of the verb do with the conditional conjunction në). E.g., dikush< di+kush, disa< di+sa, ndoca< ndo+ca, ndokush<ndo+kush, ndonjëri< ndo+njëri, ndonjeri < ndo+ njeri.

c) Negative particles as and mos with indefinite pronouns: askush, asnjeri, asnjëri, asndonjë, asndonjeri, asndonjëri, askurrgjë, askurrkush, asnjëfarëlloj, mosgjë, moskush, mosnjeri.

d) The conjunction se: se + cili, se + cilido, se + kush.

e) The adverbs kurr(ë) and rrallë: kurr + kush, kurr + gjë, rrallë + kush. These pronouns may be declined.

2. A fixed element at the beginning of the word and a second element which is not declined, e.g.: di + çka, di+ç, se + ç, kurr(ë) + farë.

Indefinite pronouns formed by the agglutination of a pronominal word and a fixed element. The pronominal word is declined. These indefinite pronouns are declined and they are formed by the fixed element do, deriving from the third person singular of the verb dua + a pronoun: kushdo, cilido, secilido.

4. Indefinite pronouns formed by a fixed element which comes after another pronominal element that is not declined: çmos < ç + mos, gjithçmos < gjithë + çmos, çdo < ç + do, çfarëdo < çfarë + do, sedo < se + do.

5. Another category of pronouns derives from the repetition of the same noun or pronoun: lloj-lloj, shoku-shokun (shoqja-shoqen), njëri-tjetrin (as well as the forms used in some dialects njëri-jatëri, jatër-jatri, jetër-jetri).

Translation of Compound Pronouns

The translation of compound pronouns from Albanian into English or vice versa is often accompanied by discrepancies in parts of speech. A certain pronoun translated from one language into another does not necessarily render a pronoun, but another part of speech, e.g.:

Conclusions

Albanian agglutinated pronouns obviously outnumber English compound pronouns. There are 4.5 times more pronouns and 3 times more constituent structures in Albanian than in English. Because of the similarities in function and structure to nouns or adjectives, Albanian pronouns often have the same grammatical features as these parts of speech, whereas in English they are not declined. However, reflexive pronouns in English do have the grammatical category of number: singular and plural.

As far as the constituent elements in each language are concerned, the results appear as follows: in Albanian, 62 % are made up of two elements, 31% of three elements, and 7 % of four elements. In English, on the other hand, 95% are made up of two elements and about 5% of three.

References