Re: CHAT: Unconventional pronoun systemsshow us yours!

In a message dated 9/4/04 8:56:09 AM Pacific Daylight Time, rfmilly@MSN.COM
writes:

<< ut we still need a lower-to-higher pronoun for non-sexual relationships >>
In Rihana-ye the basic singular pronouns are formed by adding the words for
this (se)
with (fe) and that/beyond (ve)  to some basic root nouns: man, woman,
child,animal, thing. (ba,ka, da, fa, ha)
Thus seba (I adult male), seka (I adult female), seda (I child, either gender)
feba (you sing. adult male), feka (you sing. adult female), feda (you
sing.child)
veba (he adult male), veka (she adult female),  veda (he/she child), vefa (it
animal)
veha (it thing).  Plurals traditionally are irregular, adding "fe" as prefix
rather than the
regular plural fe as suffix, but both forms are in use. Thus fesaba or
seba-fe(we adult males), feseka or seka-fe (we adult females)  feseda or seda-fe (we
children) etc.
If a group includes both adult males and adult females, the pronoun includes
both
ba and ka, and in that situation the -fe plural suffix is normally used.
e.g. sebaka-fe
(we adults of both sexes). At the court of the Overlord Ritibada, the use of
the prefixes ti(high-) and ni-(low) with pronouns was introduced to show
differences in rank.
This has gone in and out of fashion since, but currently it is in. Hence
"Tifeba"("High you) as pronoun for sing. adult male of superior rank etc. These
pronouns can be used
courteously to indicate genuine differences in rank, or they can be used
insultingly (using the "high"pronouns for the speaker and the "low"pronouns for
the person addressed when in fact the speaker is only equal to or even lower
than the person addressed.) A similar distinction in verb suffixes has been
proposed but not yet implemented.
On the other hand, in Jases Lalal the same set of basic pronouns is used for
everyone of whatever rank, even their fiercely monotheistic god,  but some
rank distinctionscam be indicated by verbs.
In Meridonian,  High Court Meridonian presumably uses Latin pronounsrun
through the
standard spelling changes (yz or ylle he, ylla she, yd it). But Low
Meridonian by its heavy borrowing from several Romance languages has ended up with many
alternatives for pronouns and  articles: le, yl, el for he,la for she,etc.
John Leland