Otto Jespersen and the uses of one

Abstract

In his Modern English Grammar Jespersen gives a thorough description of the varying uses of the prop-word one, which he defines in the following way: “One is termed a prop-word when it has the important function of serving as primary on which to hang a secondary which, for some reason or other, cannot very well or conveniently stand alone as a primary.” The secondary is most often an adjective, but it may also be a pronoun, a prepositional group or a relative clause, and it may either precede or follow one. Jespersen also discusses the uses of one as a pronoun indicating generic person and as a pronoun of “indefinite unity”. In my paper I will outline the Middle and Early Modern English development of the pronominal uses of one, with reference to Jespersen’s observations on the prop-word. The Old English individualizing and intensifying uses which seem to form a starting-point for the development of the pronoun are also referred to. The pronominal uses are divided into six groups: (1) personal-specific; (2) with indefinite pronouns; (3) substitutive; (4) personal-non-specific; (5) personal- generic; and (6) prop-word. This classification is intended to illustrate the gradual grammaticalisation and mutual relationship of the types of the pronominal one. As Jespersen was not particularly interested in the Middle English uses of the syntactic types, some of his chronological statements can be corrected. His insightfulness and mastery of textual evidence is, however, most praiseworthy and useful even for the scholars of the new millennium.