Contents Introduction The development of personal pronouns in English

4. Development of interrogative, indefinite,
negative and indefinite personal, relative pronouns
Interrogative, indefinite, negative and indefinite personal pronouns in the Old English period
Interrogative pronouns include masculine and feminine hwa 'who', neuter hw1t 'what', hwylc 'which'. Hwa and hw1t are declined like se and p1t.
The indefinite ones include sum 'some', 1niZ 'some', which are declined like strong adjectives. In the group of indefinite indefinite generalizing pronouns can be distinguished, such as Zehwǎ 'every', swilc 'such', 1lc 'each', 1Zđer 'one of two'; sē ilca 'the one'. Zehwǎ declines like hwǎ; the rest of the pronouns are inflected in the strong type, with the exception of sē ilca, which is inflected in the weak type.
The negative pronouns nǎn, n1niZ come from ne + ǎn 'none' and ne + 1niZ 'none'. Both of them are strongly inclined.
The plural form men 'people' in a collective indefinite meaning can be considered as an indefinite personal pronoun.
Interrogative, indefinite, negative and indefinite personal pronouns in the Middle English period
Interrogative pronouns have not undergone any changes other than phonetic ones. In Middle English we find the pronouns who, what, whos(e), whom, which.
Indefinite and negative pronouns have lost their declension: some, any, non have become invariable; See also each, every. In the Middle English period, the isolation of a group of relative pronouns began, which developed in the New English period to its present state. The demonstrative pronoun đ1t already had a homonym in Old English in the form of the union đ1t, which introduced additional subordinate clauses. In Old English, the demonstrative pronouns sē, sēo, đ1t, đǎ attached adjectives expressed in sentences; in these cases their nature is not clear—whether they are demonstrative pronouns or already relative. But, judging by the fact that in the future they did not retain the function of attaching such sentences, it seems more correct to consider them as demonstrative pronouns, and not relative ones.
In Middle English, a clear relative pronoun that appears, combining the ability for anaphoric use (inherent in demonstrative pronouns) and the transfer of relative subordination inherent in conjunction. In the XIII century. which takes on the same function. Chaucer also uses which without that.
Whom and whose also belong to the group of relative pronouns in Middle English; but who joins it only in the 16th century. After the emergence of the relative pronoun who, a delimitation took place, as a result of which who began to refer to the definitive, denoting a person, and which, to the definitive, denoting an object or animal. Who and which compete with that, which can be either of the two types it defines.
In Old English, the weakened unstressed form man, men, me was used with the meaning of an indefinite personal pronoun. In the Middle English period, men, me continued to be used: Therfore in stede of weping and preyeres, Men moot yve silver to the povre freres (Chaucer) "Therefore, instead of weeping and praying, silver should be given to poor monks."
At the same time, an indefinite personal pronoun separates from the numeral oon (= one). In Middle English it is used mainly in combinations: everychon= everyone, many one. In the future, it functions independently. The genitive form one's appears in Early New English.