Personal Pronouns in English and Doteli Language: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study Personal Pronouns in English and Doteli Language:A Comparative Study aimed to analyze the personal pronouns as they are used in Doteli and English languages. The data were collected from thirty Doteli native-speaking students of Ajayameru Rural Municipality, Dadeldhura, selected through random sampling. Using a survey research design, the study employed questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection. The data were transcribed, tabulated, and analyzed descriptively within the framework of contrastive analysis theory. The findings show that Doteli has a greater number of personal pronouns than English, with the addition of the suffixes -lai and -khi to mark the objective case, a feature absent in English. Furthermore, Doteli distinguishes between honorific and non-honorific forms in the second- and third-person pronouns, whereas English does not have such distinction. Unlike English, which uses distinct pronouns (he and she) for gender differentiation, Doteli employs the same third-person pronoun “U” for both male and female, with gender distinctions instead reflected in accompanying adjectives and verbs. These insights indicate structural and cultural differences in the use of personal pronouns across the two languages. This study is organized into five chapters. The first chapter presents an introduction, including the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study, and definitions of the key terms. Moreover, the second chapter reviews related literature, outlines the implications of the study, and present the conceptual framework. In the same way, Chapter three describes the research methodology, including sampling procedures, data collection tools, and process of data collection. The fourth chapter focuses on the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. Finally, Chapter five refers to the findings, and recommendations, followed by the references and appendices. .