Re: Fifth person? (was Re: (No Subject))

Hi!

Trebor Jung <treborjung@...> writes:
> Muke írta: "If you mean examples of languages that have that many person
> distinctions... I don't know of any natlangs offhand that use such a term."
>
> Cristina írta: "Yes, personal distinctions!"
>
> A prize to whoever correctly guesses a conlang that has that many persons...
>
> I'm putting my money on Maggel :)
There are perfectly regular languages that have that, too. :-) My
Fukhian has five person distinctions.  In indirect speech, the person
assignment 'shifts by two', i.e. first person becomes third, second
fourth and third becomes fifth.  Examples:

 "Peter told John that he washed his(3rd) car" -> Peter's car
 "Peter told John that he washed his(4th) car" -> John's car
 "Peter told John that he washed his(5th) car" -> someone else's car

The same distinction can be made with 'he' in the subordinate clause.

In direct sentences, 5th person expresses the unpersonal pronoun,
'man' in German.  At the time of constructing Fukhian, I did not think
about the case of using the unpersonal pronoun in indirect
speech... :-)

**Henrik