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The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 429) says:

Yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow are not traditionally analysed as pronouns, but belong in this subclass of nouns by virtue of their inability to take determiners. Compare, for example, Today/*The today is my birthday. They are also semantically like the central pronouns I and you in that they are characteristically used deictically. Unlike the temporal prepositions now and then, the pronouns have genitive forms: today’s, etc.

Expressions like last night and last/next week act just like yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow: They cannot take determiners without changing the meaning; they are characteristically used deictically; and they have genitive forms (last night's, etc.)

Although last night and last/next week are made up of two words, some pronouns such as reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another) are also two-word expressions, so being made up of two words shouldn't stop them from being pronouns.

In the determinative section, though, CGEL also mentions in a foodnote (Page 356):

We might also include [in the determinative category] last and next as used in temporal deictic expressions such as last week, next year, etc., where they contrast with the central determinative this.

But it's not clear how CGEL would analyze last night and last/next week.

Question 1

Would CGEL analyze last night and last/next week as pronouns or a combination of 'determiner (last, next, etc) + common noun (night, week, etc)'?

Question 2

If CGEL adopts the 'determiner + common noun' approach for last night and last/next week, why doesn't CGEL adopt the 'determiner + common noun' approach for yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow (with yester-/to- being a determiner and -day/night/morrow being a common noun)?

JK2
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  • Haven't you answered your own question 1 with the footnote quote? Last in last week is a determinative. That would make week a noun. As for question 2, I'm not sure why you're deconstructing words; yester does not stand alone (not anymore anyway). – Tinfoil Hat May 19 '20 at 18:23
  • @TinfoilHat In the footnote, they say "We might also include..." but the fact of the matter is, they didn't. So isn't it correct to say that they decided not to include last and next in the determinative category? //I'm not trying to deconstruct words, I'm trying to understand why those four words can function as pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs by looking at their etymology. – JK2 May 20 '20 at 00:53
  • See CGEL p. 564 regarding comparison to traditional grammar: There is, however, no need to distinguish the yesterday* of [i] and [ii] in terms of category as well as function . . .* Also, that "might" sounds kind of British English to me — as in might well, not as in might but not yet. – Tinfoil Hat May 20 '20 at 01:32
  • @TinfoilHat Good point. So the function of the four words is pronoun. // Whether the might means "might well" or "might but not yet", it's a fact that CGEL didn't officially include last and next as the determinative, isn't it? – JK2 May 20 '20 at 01:54
  • Or is it that they are categorically pronouns, but we don't say what they function as? I would say a British we might in this case might be a sort of polite we do. – Tinfoil Hat May 20 '20 at 02:09
  • @TinfoilHat What I'm saying is the fact that CGEL doesn't list last and next under §7 Other determinatives (p 373). "In this section we examine in turn the groups of determinatives given in [5] of §4 other than the two articles. Our major focus will be on their use in determiner function, with other uses being dealt with more summarily." – JK2 May 20 '20 at 03:00
  • Maybe more clues at Chapter 8: § 6.2 Semantic types and Chapter 17: § 10.1.2 Other temporal expressions. – Tinfoil Hat May 20 '20 at 19:15
  • Once again, why ask us what they would say when you can send them an email and get the actual facts? – John Lawler May 20 '20 at 22:49
  • @JohnLawler There's an argument going on about depictive adjectiveswhich I think would benefit greatly from your involvement. – WS2 May 21 '20 at 08:55
  • @TinfoilHat Those sections do discuss the expressions but they don't analyze last or next. – JK2 May 23 '20 at 04:21

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