It not as We Know it

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide insight into various uses of the English pronoun it (which is actually not always a pro-noun, i.e. not always used instead of a noun) and to ascertain whether they have any meaning, semantic and/or pragmatic. A number of authors have been reviewed, a lot of examples adduced and, in a new approach, semantic definitions of four sememes of it have been produced. All of the four varieties of it have referential function, the emphatic it has no semantic meaning, the personal and phenomenon it have semantic meaning partly, while the ambient it has a general semantic meaning. The personal, phenomenon and emphatic it have a definable pragmatic use.