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Re: CHAT: Unconventional pronoun systemsshow us yours!

From:Jeffrey Henning <jeffrey@...>
Date:Sunday, September 12, 2004, 20:42
Minhyan's pronouns are nine separate roots that vary for status and person.
It depends on the societal status level of the antecedant relative to the
speaker: an honorific pronoun, a peer pronoun and a humble pronoun.

Person - Gloss  - Honorific - Peer  - Humble
1      - "Me"   - oridben   - gara  - aru
2      - "You"  - arnodiad  - calan - aba
3      - "Them" - trenorn   - leweg - ono

Actual usage is too complex to be easily summarized. Traditions of Minhyan
discourse require the speaker to use the appropriate status pronoun for the
situation.  It would be considered insulting for a king to address his page
using _arnodiad_ and considered rebellious of a minor to address a parent
using _calan_.  A king would say to his betrothed, _Ama oridbehan calapan_
("I love you") if she were a noble and _Ama oridbehan abapa_ if she were a
peasant.  Once she was his queen, he would say, _Ama oridbehan arnodiapad_.
 (A king could say to his peasant bethrothed, _Abapa ama oridbehan_, "(It's)
you I love", if he wanted to place more emphasis on her.)

Pronouns are declined differently from nouns, preserving an early singular
vs. plural distinction that in nouns has evolved into an indefinite vs.
definite distinction.

Possessive pronouns are formed as if they were genitive adjectives.
Demonstratives "this" and "that" are formed from the pronouns (think of them
as meaning "this thing near me" and "that thing near you").  Thus _echipal
aruga_ means "my shirt" (or "our shirt") and _echipal aru_ means "this
shirt" (echipal aruge means "a shirt of mine").

Best regards,

Jeffrey