Pronouns constitute
a so-called ``closed" class, i.e. given a language,
the members of this class can be always enumerated. Pronouns share
this feature in common with the invariable PoS's, conjunctions and
prepositions, while, on the other hand, they are similar to the
variable PoS's, nouns and adjectives (see below).
The pronoun can, in fact, substitute the noun, carrying
its syntactic and semantic properties.
However,
the substitution role is not a sufficient criterion to circumscribe
the pronoun category: in fact, the deictics do not substitute the noun
but indicate an extralinguistic fact.
Properties shared by the members of this category can be
grouped under the following criteria.
Morphological criterion:
- pronouns share with the noun and adjective the agreement
in
gender, egli, ella,
and number, questo, questi. In Italian, personal pronouns
keep the ancient
case system, egli, lui, gli.
Syntactic peculiarities can be isolated
that can help in distinguishing pronouns from pronominal adjectives (see
below, under possessive type).
Semantic criterion:
- on the basis of semantic considerations,
subclasses can be identified
in the pronominal series:
personal, possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, relative,
interrogative, exclamative pronouns. Each series - but the personal -
presents a corresponding
adjectival series, the so-called ``Pronominal Adjectives" (here dealt
with in the Determiner section).