Post History
It is often said that Japanese doesn't really have a pronoun word class, such as in the Wikipedia article on Japanese Grammar: Although many grammars and textbooks mention pronouns (代名詞 daimeish...
#4: Nominated for promotion
by
Moshi
·
2022-05-06T23:48:07Z (over 2 years ago)
#3: Nominated for promotion
by
Monica Cellio
·
2021-12-06T15:58:32Z (almost 3 years ago)
#2: Nominated for promotion
by
Moshi
·
2021-02-18T04:57:00Z (almost 4 years ago)
#1: Initial revision
by
curiousdannii
·
2020-11-18T06:24:13Z (about 4 years ago)
Does Japanese have pronouns?
It is often said that Japanese doesn't really have a pronoun word class, such as in the Wikipedia article on [Japanese Grammar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar#Pronouns): > Although many grammars and textbooks mention pronouns (代名詞 *daimeishi*), Japanese lacks true pronouns. (*Daimeishi* can be considered a subset of nouns.) Strictly speaking, pronouns do not take modifiers, but Japanese *daimeishi* do: 背の高い彼 *se no takai kare* (lit. tall he) is valid in Japanese. Also, unlike true pronouns, Japanese *daimeishi* are not closed-class: new *daimeishi* are introduced and old ones go out of use relatively quickly. Of course, it is also often said that Japanese does have pronouns. What arguments are used to answer this question? Does it stem from a lack of agreement over how to define a pronoun? If so, under which definitions does Japanese have and not have pronouns?