'I': capital and lower case (personal pronoun)

M

Maryne

Senior Member
Belgrade,Serbia
Serbian
Dear friends, I hope you can help me.
My students asked me why personal pronoun I is written with capital letter. I had no answer. Do you know why or where I can find something about it as I promised them to tell them next week.
Thanks
Maryne
 
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    • Well, the only information that I could find was that the current variation of this personal pronoun 'I' first appeared in the English language around 1250 A.D. to replace the old English personal pronoun 'ic'. But as to why it is capitalized, I have no idea. To me, its just one of those peculiarities of the language. I hope that this helps you out!
     
    Thank you very much. I had one more idea maybe it is capitalized for the reason to be seen better in the text as it is a letter i and when you write it in capital letter it is more noticable.I...Who knows?Anyway thanks for your help, as I realized that students learn better language when you have some story about some origin of the word or about some social aspect of life in a certain country.....Maryne see you soon
     
    The Online Etymology Dictionary tells us that once the first person pronoun was written as ich or ik:
    Reduced to i by 1137 in northern England, it began to be capitalized c.1250 to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.
    ​
    (You should read it yourself, and you can make the story you have to tell a little bit longer. It tells us that dot was added to the lower case i in the eleventh century.)
     
    Hello !
    Why is the first person pronoun "I" always written in capital letter? I (! ) have never heard nor read anything about it, but I am frequently asked the question.
    Merci
     
    Very good question.

    My initial thought was to say that it is simply a fact of English grammar but Momerath has the link that I have lost.

    Here is the text again - the link does not take you to the page directly.

    English I originates from Old English (OE) ic. This transformation from ic to i had happened by about 1137 in Northern England. Capitalisation of the word began around 1250 to clarify the single letter as constituting a full word: writers and copyists began to use a capital I because the lower-case letter was hard to read, and sometimes mistaken for part of the previous or succeeding word. This practice was already established by the introduction of movable type in the mid-15th century, and was also still considered to improve readability.[citation needed] Its predecessor ic had in turn originated from the continuation of Proto-Germanic ik, and ek; ek was attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions (in some cases notably showing the variant eka; see also ek erilaz). Linguists assume ik to have developed from the unstressed variant of ek.
     
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    Some people think it rather immodest to capitalise the word that refers to themselves and perhaps this is why "i" is becoming more and more frequent.
     
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    Momerath said:
    Some people think it rather immodest to capitalise the word that refers to themselves and perhaps this is why "i" is becoming more and more frequent.
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    I haven't noticed it becoming more and more frequent - just in "chatspeak" where other non-standard forms are used such as "u" for "you" or "thanx". I've never seen it outside of that context.
     
    I would say it comes from the sixties to stress the egalitarian philosophy of the times "I" being no better than anybody else.
     
    QBU said:
    I would say it comes from the sixties to stress the egalitarian philosophy of the times "I" being no better than anybody else.
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    What does? I have never seen something written in proper English (handwritten or electronic) which uses lower-case "i", other than in chat forums or quick very informal emails etc (and even in that latter certainly not the norm). If I did it would just look uneducated rather than someone trying to make a sociological statement.
     
    I have encountered "i" for "I" in alternative litterature in Eugene, Oregon a long while ago (30 years!) and that's what I figured it meant.
    I am by no mean an expert.
     
    Yes I must say I've only seen it in emails and letters. Perhaps I'm just out of touch. I've never owned a mobile phone so I can't say how people write SMS messages. Also my knowledge of blogs is limited to the WR Forum and the Archers Message Board. Chatspeak is proscribed in the former and unknown in the latter. Please don't mod this.
     
    timpeac said:
    ...I have never seen something written in proper English (handwritten or electronic) which uses lower-case "i", other than in chat forums or quick very informal emails etc (and even in that latter certainly not the norm). If I did it would just look uneducated rather than someone trying to make a sociological statement.
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    Agreed.
     
    timpeac said:
    What does? I have never seen something written in proper English (handwritten or electronic) which uses lower-case "i", other than in chat forums or quick very informal emails etc (and even in that latter certainly not the norm). If I did it would just look uneducated rather than someone trying to make a sociological statement.
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    It would not look uneducated to me, because even uneducated people follow the rule that the pronoun I is always capitalized. If I saw it outside the context of texting or chatspeak, I would assume the person using it was not a native speaker of English.
     
    I have never known any native English user refuse to capitalise "I" on grounds of modesty, only on grounds of "it takes too long to press the shift key" or "i cant be bothered and no one uses capital or punctuation anyway".
     
    panjandrum said:
    i cant
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    Yes - exactly. I would view writing "i" on a par with writing "cant" for "can't" or "dont" for "don't" or "tnx" for "thanks" - so whether it's viewed as "wrong", lazy, or the epitome of witty social commentary I think the effect is the same.

    I also take on board the comment about non-native speakers - I have received formal notes from non-natives who haven't capitalised it, but I put that down to them not realising how standard "I" is, perhaps from seeing "i" so much on the internet. I wouldn't expect them to write "cant" for "can't" etc. in a formal email or note though.
     
    Since some time, i have decided to consistently lowercase my i's (in the sense of the first-person singular personal pronoun), against common usage where I's are capitalised. It seems wrong and egocentric to me to capitalise "I" while lowercasing "you". Now writing "what is it that You are doing?" does look quite strange, so i abstain from that usage and instead just lowercase both. Have there been discussions about this? I couldn't find any and by nature of the subject it's also a bit hard to word a search for.
    Many other languages capitalise "you" (at least partially) while i know of no other language than English that capitalises "i".
     
    You realize, I am sure, that it will look strange and, to many people, will indicate that the writer is ignorant of how to write "correctly". It may be a battle you are prepared to fight, but it's unlikely you will change the (English speaking/writing) world. I don't think your reasoning is unacceptable but this is one of those cases where "It's just that way, because that's the way it is."

    It may be of interest to you that the dot on the minuscule (lower case) I was originally a diacritical mark and used to identify the I in amongst other lower case letters where it might have been mistaken for a stroke of another letter. That is a little reminiscent of when I learned to read and write German, I often saw a mark, like a short dash, over a simple -u- intended to make sure it was read as a simple u; I never saw it in print.
     
    @Loob: Well, there is no English Academy that makes it obligatory.
    Knowing English, the capitalisation of i is probably the remnant of some ancient and arbitrary standard. I think English is the most unscientific language ever. Funnily enough, it has superseded Latin for the very use of the conduct of science.
     
    @JS: Of course I shall cause no revolution, revolutions occur out of anguish and necessity.
    You are quite right, that in handwritten German, we might place a macron sort of line over our u's to distinguish them from n's. It's usage is not very common anymore, though.
     
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    << Now merged with this thread.>>

    I find writing with the capitalized pronoun easier to read, because I stands out from the text, and is clearly distinguished from other uses of i, as in discussions of spelling or pronunciation.

    And as a matter of courtesy, too: I wouldn't want to mislead someone who is using my writing to gauge what is acceptable in the English speaking world. (Not that it's perfect in other ways, of course.)
     
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    @Cagey: "To avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts." Hahaha!
    If your English is sophisticated and correct enough, the reader would assume a deliberate minisculisation (?!).
     
    vilem said:
    @Cagey: "To avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts." Hahaha!
    If your English is sophisticated and correct enough, the reader would assume a deliberate minisculisation (?!).
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    Yes, in the other thread, that is offered as an explanation. (It is also the reason a dot was added to the lower case i.) I find capitalization is also helpful in reading posts in this forum.

    It is true, that some writers use only lower case ~ e.e. cummings, for one ~ to make a point of some sort. However, I don't have his standing.
     
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    vilem said:
    @Cagey: "To avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts." Hahaha!
    If your English is sophisticated and correct enough, the reader would assume a deliberate minisculisation (?!).
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    Not many opportunities for reviewing handwritten anything these days.

    I must say, though, that if I were in your position, I might use a smaller font for the capital I and thereby decrease the egocentricity or immodesty factor by a few points or picas :D

    One might be able to make the point without doing away with the form of the CAPITAL I. You would then have to live exclusively in a world of rich text format!
     
    I'm quite fond of literary freedom when it comes to art and the poetic license has a specific purpose. However, in conventional writing, I find it to be an affectation and a device focused on trying to be different, in which case my own feeling is that purposely using a lowercase i in regular writing is actually more egotistical than it is to use the conventionally accepted capital I.

    However, I've never seen that myself. The only people I ever see using a lowercase i also neglect to capitalize the beginning of sentences and proper names. This doesn't seem like a person trying to make a moral point of some kind, but just someone who is too lazy to use the shift key any more.
     
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    vilem said:
    @Loob: Well, there is no English Academy that makes it obligatory.
    Knowing English, the capitalisation of i is probably the remnant of some ancient and arbitrary standard. I think English is the most unscientific language ever. Funnily enough, it has superseded Latin for the very use of the conduct of science.
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    I can't help but have just a sneaking suspicion that this thread might just be a troll. It starts with a bizarre criticism of the language and then goes on to describe it as "unscientific". How can a language be "unscientific"? Illogical perhaps, but I doubt any language could be described as logical - even German has irregular verbs.

    The criticism comes from a speaker of a language that capitalises its nouns. I could equally say that I don't know any other language than German that does that. I suppose that I could decide that I will no longer do that when writing German, but if I did so most Germans would think me a fool.

    Ah well, if it is a troll I have taken the bait :eek:

    I suppose I have learnt something new - that sadists like to be capitalised - but I can't see that it is knowledge that I will have any use for.
     
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    Someone can tell me why the word "I" always is write with capital letter?


    << Merged with previous discussion. Please read from the top. >>
     
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    I think the reason is historical, phaaby.

    I found this via google:
    "The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun." [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]"
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    [Please note that this post and the following ones have been added to an existing thread where the same question was asked. Please read down from the top! DonnyB - moderator]
    Hello to everyone!

    Long, long ago, my first English teacher said to our class: "We don't have time now, but I will tell you another time why "I" is written with a capital letter."
    She must have forgotten.
    Promise something to a child and be sure that it will not (never) forget.
    I can't ask my English teacher now. There is no conventional telecommunications between here and her present abode.

    Could anyone help me out?

    Many thanks in advance!
     
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    Originally, it wasn't. The original form had been shortened to one letter written 'i' but it seemed lost and too insignificant when printing started.
     
    We capitalize the "I" because that's English - the same reason we capitalize proper nouns and the first letter in sentences

    If there's some historic argument, I never heard one in lo, these many years.

    Back in high school, my German teacher had a ready answer for unfathomable "why"questions, which was: "Little Germans get it from their parents and when little Germans grow up to be big Germans, their children continue to say it and when those little Germans grow up to be big Germans ..... "

    Perhaps you could study why you DON'T capitalize first-person pronouns in Italian, or for that matter, second-person formal pronouns as in German, etc.:D
     
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    Thanks to all of you for your answers!

    sdgraham said:
    Back in high school, my German teacher had a ready answer for unfathomable "why"questions, which was: "Little Germans get it from their parents and when little Germans grow up to be big Germans, their children continue to say it and when those little Germans grow up to be big Germans ..... "
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    Your high school teacher surely knew how to stimulate you and your classmates to do personal research without overexerting himself/herself...
     
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    I would just say that the capitalisation is for aesthetic reasons. Not everything in language is 'logical'.
     
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