Preservation, modification, and innovation. Paradigmatic reorganisation of the system of personal pronouns – from Latin into Modern Italian

The paradigmatic organisation of the personal pronouns from Latin to modern Romance languages is characterised by tendencies of both preservation and of innovation. The basic referential system, including the oppositions between person, number, gender, and case is reshaped, but generally preserved. New oppositions have been introduced, which have caused the creation of new paradigmatic dimensions. We show that the following new oppositions concerning form and content are relevant for Italian: ±accentuation, ±degree of formality, ±proficiency, ±human. We investigate ongoing tendencies to reduce the basic referential system. Our main focus is on the creation of paradigmatic structures and on the influence of diasystematic (diachronic, diatopic, diastratic, diamesic, and diafasic) factors.