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This research aims to provide a diachronic analysis of the developments in the Dutch pronouns degene/diegene ‘the one/those who’, from 1200 to the present, as cataphor and anaphor. To achieve our aim, three research questions will be answered: (i) how have form and meaning in the use of degene/diegene developed over the years? (ii) which developments can be specifically identified in the last two decades? and (iii) what differences are there in contemporary Dutch between anaphoric diegene, the ordinary free anaphors hij/zij ‘he/she’ and the demonstrative die ‘that’? Firstly, the different stages of Dutch from 1200 to the present are discussed on the basis of language data collected with a large number of digital corpora and other digital text material, and additional observations of oral and written language use. Then the data described will be analyzed in a diachronic context, in which the first two research questions will be answered. It will appear that in the course of time degene and diegene are differentiated, each in their own way, as cataphor and anaphor, and that all developments indicate a widening use and an optimal division of labour between these pronouns. Finally, six differences are discussed between diegene, the anaphors hij/zij and the demonstrative die. This study presents the first diachronic overview of the changes in the use of degene/diegene in the period from 1200 to the present.