First Person Pronouns “Wo” and “An” in Gushi Dialect of Henan Province

The first person pronouns in Gushi dialect mainly include "wo" and "an", which all refer to I or me in English. "Wo" can act as the subject, the object or the possessive. It can only be used to express individual self-designation. "An" can be used to express singular or plural, inclusive or exclusive. It is mainly used as the possessive, followed by the subject and used less as the object. Compared with "wo", "an" contains pragmatic meaning of politeness and modesty. Regardless of direct address or indirect address, "an" can be used before the relative appellation words. The first person pronoun system in Gushi dialect has the features of integration and transition between northern mandarin and southern mandarin. The relevant research is of reference significance to understand the evolution process and development trend of the personal pronoun system in Chinese dialects.