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Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Anders Holmberg
In talk addressed to yourself (for those who engage in such activity) either I or you can be used when referring to yourself (e.g. What's wrong with me? or What's wrong with you?). The use of you is constrained, though. It can’t refer to the self in assertions about the self’s state of mind, including thoughts, feelings, and intentions. In those cases I is the only option. This is because self-talk-you is 'mindless', thus sharing with ordinary dialogue-you the property of not being controlled by the mind of the speaker. In self-talk there is a speaker (I) and an addressee (you), who can even be represented in the same sentence (I know you can do it!), both pronouns denoting the self. This is possible, without violation of any principles of binding, because in normal self-talk there is ONLY ONE MIND, which can only be addressed as I.
Author(s): Holmberg A
Publication type: Report
Publication status: Published
Series Title: Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics
Year: 2010
Pages: 57-65
Report Number: v.16
Institution: Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences (CRiLLS), Newcastle Universty
Place Published: Newcastle upon Tyne
URL: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics/assets/documents/HOLMBERG.pdf
