English generic we, you, and they: an analysis in terms of territory of information

This paper discusses the generic and non-specific uses of English personal pronouns we, you, and they and argues that they constitute the same system as those which underlie Japanese and English demonstrative systems. That is, they constitute a system based on the notion of the speaker's and hearer's territories and the sphere outside of both territories, which were extensively discussed in Kamio (1997); Thus, this paper claims that the basic notion of the speaker's territory of information can be applied to generic and non-specific uses of English personal pronouns.