Re: THEORY: The fourth person

Hi!

Jean-François Colson <fa597525@...> writes:
>...
> Is that somewhat similar to the French pronoun "on", the German "man", the
> Dutch "men", etc.?
It is similar in that it might express the same or a closely related
idea, but it is different in that the languages you mention use 3rd
person morphologically, instead of using a distinct 4th person
(e.g. as an inflection on the verb).

E.g. Westgreenlandic (yes, I am currently sincerely addicted to it):

   Nanummit  nerineqarpoq. - He is eaten by a polar bear.
   Nanunnit  nerineqarpoq. - He is eaten by my polar bear.
   Nanunniit nerineqarpoq. - He is eaten by your polar bear.
   Nanuminit nerineqarpoq. - He is eaten by his(own) polar bear.
   Nanuanit  nerineqarpoq. - He is eaten by his(someone else's) polar bear.

I don't know whether it makes a difference to *him*, but to the
surviving linguist, it does. :-)

The verb is always:

   nerineqarpoq
   'niri-niqaq-Vu-q'
   eat-PASSIVE-IND-3s

The forms of 'nanuq' - 'polar bear' break down as follows (all are
ablative oblique expressing the agent of the the passive verb phrase):

   nanummit / nanunnit / nanunniit / nanuminit / nanuanit

   nanuq
       polar.bar
    (-m / -nn / -nni / +min / -an)
       MiscOblique.unpossessed /
       MiscOblique.possessed_by_1st_s /
       MiscOblique.possessed_by_2nd_s /
       MiscOblique.possessed_by_3rd_reflexive_s /
       MiscOblique.possessed_by_3rd_other_s (fourth person)
   - it
       Ablative

Where + is consonant stem composition and - is vowel stem composition.

The forms are what I figured out...


However, I thought French 'on' is used for 3rd person plural, i.e.
'we', in modern usage.

Dutch 'men' is also replaced by 'jou'/'je' in most circumstances (like
English) and German 'man' is only a bit behind im time: I'm probably
part of the last generation to use 'man' -- modern usage is 'Du' as
well.  I hate it, but I probably can't stop 'Du' from being misused in
such a way.

**Henrik

PS: As usual, I must admit that I am just a learner of Westgreenlandic
    and that all examples are produces of myself and are not approved
    by any native speaker.  Don't hit me if the examples are wrong,
    please inform me instead.