ABSTRACT
English dialects demonstrate a considerable amount of variation in their pronominal systems, in form, function and usage. The traditional dialects of the south-west of England, and their descendants in Newfoundland, which differ most strikingly from the pronoun system outlined. Many traditional dialects in the north and west of England retain forms descended from thou and thee as second person singular pronouns addressed to friends and intimates. There are two major characteristics to note. The first is what Ihalainen calls 'pronoun exchange'. The second characteristic has to do with the gender system, discussed at length by Paddock, The striking thing to speakers of mainstream dialects is that he and she in the south-west may occur as pronominalizations of inanimate nouns. Newfoundland dialects therefore show, to varying degrees, characteristics from both these areas, at all linguistic levels, with the added complication that the dialects of south-west England also played an important role in the formation of Irish English.
