Praseo pronouns

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The Praseo pronominal system is of relatively recent provenance. There are no personal pronouns in subject positions which can be reconstructed for Common Yivril, so all pronouns in Praseo reflect recent innovated forms.

Third person subject pronouns

Strictly speaking, there are no third-person subject pronouns as such in Praseo. Instead, there are two sets of demonstratives, distinguished by nearness, broadly equivalent to English "this" and "that". The pronouns are formed from the prefixes ni- for "this" and na- for "that", combined with common pronominal suffixes.

Pronouns in cases other than the nominative do not use these forms are discussed below.

Proximal demonstratives

The proximal demonstratives are equivalent to "this one," referring to an object which is near in time, space, or discourse. They distinguish masculine animates, feminine animates, and inanimates in singular and plural. All of the proximal demonstratives begin with the prefix ni-, which means "this."

Gender Singular Plural
masc nila nili
fem nile nila
inan nitsu nitsi

Distal demonstratives

The distal demonstratives are equivalent to "that one", referring to an object which is distant in time, space, or discourse. The distal demonstratives have the same numbers and genders as the proximal demonstratives.

Gender Singular Plural
masc nala nali
fem nale nala
inan natsu natsi

However, there are also variants of these forms which lack the initial n-, eg. ala "this one (m.sg.)". The forms with and without the initial n- are used in free variation in the dialect of Prasa, but the forms without n- are strongly preferred in the upriver dialects.

First and second person subject pronouns

The first and second person subject pronouns are formed of compounds between the demonstrative prefixes and pronominal suffixes, similar to the third person demonstratives. However, there is no distinction between proximal and distal in the first and second persons, and there are additional considerations of rank and politeness which affect the choice of pronouns. Second person pronouns are distinguished by gender, but first person pronouns are not.

Speech between equals

When social equals address each other, they used the following pronoun sets:

Person Singular Plural
1 nioa ai
2masc niśa aśi
2fem niśe aśa

These forms are considered the unmarked forms, and are used in all social situations where differences of rank do not need to be observed. This includes speech between people of similar ages, and interactions between the leaders of enna regardless of their age.

Speech between unequals

When there is a distinction of rank that must be observed, then the first and second person pronouns are reversed in the singular---that is, the first person singular pronoun from the chart above is used as the second person pronoun, and vice versa. In this scenario the gender of the first person pronoun is qualified by the gender of the interlocutor. The plural pronouns are unchanged. The following chart illustrates this (perhaps redundantly):

Person Singular Plural
1 (masc. interlocutor) niśa ai
1 (fem. interlocutor) niśe ai
1 (mpl. interlocutor) niśi ai
1 (fpl. interlocutor) niśa ai
2masc nioa aśi
2fem nioa aśa

The rationale for this has to do with the cultural use of honorifics and "social ownership". The word nioa literally means "this one of mine," but the significance of this possession varies according to the social situation. In a conversation between equals, a speaker presents himself as self-owned and self-referential, without any relationship of ownership or deference to the other speakers. Thus the word nioa, "this one of mine," can be used to refer to the self, and niśa, literally "this one of yours," refers to the interlocutor.

However, in a conversation between unequals, both parties will refer to the other with an honorific which indicates their relationship. These honorifics typically are suffixed with a possessive pronoun. The following short dialog will illustrate:

Ezeioa         pazetsyaśoa  ka?
Grandmother-my call-PERF-me QUESTION?

Child: My grandmother, did you call for me?

Bandeioa      kuyaśu?
Grandchild-my where-is-PERF?

Elder: My grandchild, where were you?

Niśe       satsú     yaśu.
This-yours beach-LOC is-PERF.

Child: I was at the beach.

Niśa       mantsya ma   nioa    patsu     zitsyatsu.
This-yours needs   that this-my something carry-it.

Elder: I need you to carry something for me.

Note, first off, that the child begins by addressing the elder with the honorific ezeioa, "my grandmother," and that the elder in turn begins by addressing the child as bandeioa, "my grandchild." The use of these ranked terms establishes the relative position of the speakers. In the second round of the dialogue, the child refers to himself with the pronoun niśe, "this yours", which is contextually understood to be an abbreviation of nibandeiśe, "this grandchild of yours". (Note, too, that though the child is male he uses the form niśe, with the feminine possessive ending -śe because he is addressing a female elder and allowing himself to be "socially owned" by the elder.) The grandmother, in like fashion, refers to herself as niśa, literally "this yours (m.sg.)", understood as an abbreviation of "this grandmother of yours"; and she addresses her grandson with nioa "this mine."

This reversal of first and second person pronouns only occurs in the singular. The first-person plural pronoun ai is used in conversations between unequals without change, except for one wrinkle: the plural ai cannot be used with the clusive meaning "me and you" or "we and you" when the speaker and the person addressed are of unequal rank. In cases of unequal rank, the meaning "me and you" must be conveyed by niśa ta nioa, with an explicit conjunction, and "we and you" must be ai ta nioa or similar.

[Other cases TODO]