We may wonder why first person singular is always written with a capital letter in English unlike other important languages like French or German Some people believed that it showed the Englishman's love of self-assertion and self glorification ! But the great savant Otto Jespersen strongly disagrees with this view and he considers it as little short of calumny! . According to him this practice of using capital letter is simply an orthographic habit .
In Anglo-Saxon ic was the spelling of first person singular . During the 13 th century c got dropped off and i was left alone. The scribes who copied manuscripts used capital letter lest the small letter i should be easily missed by reader of the manuscripts . Thus the convention of using capital letter for I began in the 13th century which has continued to our day !
William Caxton introduced printing in England in the 15th century and his use of capital letter for first person singular in his books must have made the practice universal .
Thanking you ,
PROF.V.P.RAJAPPAN
.
In Anglo-Saxon ic was the spelling of first person singular . During the 13 th century c got dropped off and i was left alone. The scribes who copied manuscripts used capital letter lest the small letter i should be easily missed by reader of the manuscripts . Thus the convention of using capital letter for I began in the 13th century which has continued to our day !
William Caxton introduced printing in England in the 15th century and his use of capital letter for first person singular in his books must have made the practice universal .
Thanking you ,
PROF.V.P.RAJAPPAN
.
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