Unsure of myself on Wiktionary (I work on Wikipedia en:) but it seems either a separate article on my my is deserved, or at least a mention on this page... --Dweller 13:44, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
Every other (online) dictionary calls this an adjective, not a pronoun -- e.g. a "possesive pronomial adjective":
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/my
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. says:
my (m) adj. The possessive form of I.
while Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006 says:
my determiner
Kernerman English Learner’s Dictionary © 1986-2008
my adj my of or belonging to me
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc.
my (mī) possessive pronominal adjective
OK, so websters is the most refined: its an adjective of pronomial type ...
The english-as-a-second-language sites call this a possessive adjective: http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/possessive-adjective.html which is a kind-of determiner: http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/determiner.html
And another: http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/POS/pos4.htm
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I could not find anything which actually called it a "pronoun", although webster came close by calling it a "pronomial adjective".
The following seems to be the most rational classification, from a semantic point of view: http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/determiner.html
I mean ... syntactically speaking, it acts as a determiner, and never as a noun (and thus, cannot be a syntactic pronoun). So, for example, one can say:
This is the book. This is my book.
so, syntactically, its a determiner, like "the". Now, other pronouns behave much like nouns:
This is I. This is me. This is him.
But "my" cannot behave like a noun: you can't say:
*This is my.
nor could you say:
*This is the. *This is a.
Perhaps its a noun modifier ("_nn") ? No. For example, the noun "goal" can be a noun modifier:
He stood on the goal line.
But pronouns can never be noun modifiers -- you can't say:
*He stood on the him line. *He stood on them line.
while "my" can be used in this way:
He stood on my line.
I cannot think of a single example where "my" behaves like a noun or like other pronouns, syntactically speaking. As a part of speech, calling it a pronoun sure seems wrong to me.
The following appears to give a decent, syntactically correct overview of parts of speech: http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/language-tips.html
-- linas 99.153.64.179 19:10, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
Is this sense covered? "Listen, my lad!" It doesn't indicate possession. Equinox ◑ 17:35, 1 May 2021 (UTC)