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Kayo Posted 9 years ago
Linguistics Studies

Using self-referring you

I'm Kayo. I'm in a Master course, studying Cognitive Linguistics. I'm studying 'self-referring you'. Native English speakers sometimes use 'you' instead of 'I'. For example, in the movie, The Streetcar Named Desire, Branche said to Stella. " sometimes they even cry out to you..... As if you were able to stop them....". Or in LUKA by Suzanne Vega, " They hit until you cry." I think these' you' can be replaced to' I'. I do want to know when you use this 'you', what there is inside speakers. Why do you use 'you' instead of 'I'? What happens inside speakers? I distinguish between 'generic you' and ' self-referring you'. Thank you.

  

Top answer

Let me just give you a simple answer. A speaker uses "you" when they want to generalize a situation that may have happened to them but which applies to others as well. " I hope this helps.

— Doctor D

  • Let me just give you a simple answer.
  • A speaker uses "you" when they want to generalize a situation that may have happened to them but which applies to others as well.
  • " I hope this helps.
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1 Answers
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Let me just give you a simple answer. A speaker uses "you" when they want to generalize a situation that may have happened to them but which applies to others as well.

"I ate a hot dog and threw up because it was so bad" becomes "You eat a bad hot dog and you are going to throw up."

I hope this helps.

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