Re: Mixed person plurals

Here is a four-grammatical-person six-grammatical-number inventory of (genderless,
caseless) emphatic pronouns for a language with seven vowels (a,e,i,o,u,w,y)
and nineteen consonants (b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,x,z).

The Persons are uncreatively 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

The Numbers are Singular, Dual, Trial, Paucal, Plural, and Greater Plural.

For those impatient to skip to the end, it has 73 pronouns.

There are fifteen root pronouns based on which persons they include.

I write a numerical summary for each pronoun in a way I hope each reader will understand;
1 means 1st person(s), exclusively;
2 means 2nd person(s), exclusively;
3 means 3rd person(s), exclusively;
4 means 4th person(s), exclusively;

12 means both 1st person(s) and 2nd person(s) are included, but no 3rd nor 4th
persons are included;

13 means both 1st person(s) and 3rd person(s) are included, but no 2nd nor 4th
persons are included;

14 means both 1st person(s) and 4th person(s) are included, but no 2nd nor 3rd
persons are included;

23 means both 2nd person(s) and 3rd person(s) are included, but no 1st nor 4th
persons are included;

24 means both 2nd person(s) and 4th person(s) are included, but no 1st nor 3rd
persons are included;

34 means both 3rd person(s) and 4th person(s) are included, but no 1st nor 2nd
persons are included;

123 means 1st and 2nd and 3rd persons are included, but 4th persons are excluded;

124 means 1st and 2nd and 4th persons are included, but 3rd persons are excluded;

134 means 1st and 3rd and 4th persons are included, but 2nd persons are excluded;

234 means 2nd and 3rd and 4th persons are included, but 1st persons are excluded;

1234 means the antecedent for the pronoun -- the group to which it refers --
contains at least one individual from each grammatical person.

The fifteen "root" pronouns have the form CVCCVC.

If the numerical summary of the person(s) begins with:
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 12 . 13 . 23 . 14 . 24 . 34  123  124  134  234
Then the word begins with the letter or letters:
b . c . d . f . be . bi . ci . bo . co . do  beh  bej  bij  cij

If the numerical summary of the person(s) ends with:
4 . 3 . 2 . 1 . 34 . 24 . 23 . 14 . 13 . 12  234  134  124  123
Then the word ends with the letter or letters:
r . q . p . n . yr . wr . wq . ur . uq . up  myr  lyr  lwr  lwq

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So this is the list of the fifteen "root" pronouns;

Word.. Persons Included

bagkon 1
cagkop 2
dagkoq 3
fagkor 4
begkup 12
bigkuq 13
bogkur 14
cigkwq 23
cogkwr 24
dogkyr 34
behlwq 123
bejlwr 124
bijlyr 134
cijmyr 234
behmyr 1234

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The system has six grammatical numbers (one more than any attested natlang,
although most five- and four-number subsystems of this system are attested).

The numbers are:
Singular, Dual, Trial, Paucal, Plural, and Greater Plural.

Each of the fifteen "root" pronouns means the "Minimal" number of individuals it
can mean and still include precisely one individual from each of its component
grammatical persons.

To form other pronouns from the root, a -VC suffix is added.

The next greater number uses -VC=-aC;
the next after that, -VC=-eC;
the next after that, -VC=-iC;
the next after that, -VC=-oC;
and the next after that, -VC=-uC.

If the result is Dual, -VC=-Vs;
if the result is Trial, -VC=-Vt;
if the result is Paucal, -VC=-Vv;
if the result is Plural, -VC=-Vx;
and if the result is Greater Plural, -VC=-Vz.

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So, here are all the pronouns;
(the table is split into to parts; Singular through Plural, then Dual through Greater Plural.)

Person ...... Singular Dual ... Trial .. Paucal . Plural
1st exclusive bagkon . bagkonas bagkonet bagkoniv bagkonox
2nd exclusive cagkop . cagkopas cagkopet cagkopiv cagkopox
3rd exclusive dagkoq . dagkoqas dagkoqet dagkoqiv dagkoqox
4th exclusive fagkor . fagkoras fagkoret fagkoriv fagkorox
1st+2nd inclu ........ begkup . begkupat begkupev begkupix
1st+3rd inclu ........ bigkuq . bigkuqat bigkuqev bigkuqix
1st+4th inclu ........ bogkur . bogkurat bogkurev bogkurix
2nd+3rd inclu ........ cigkwq . cigkwqat cigkwqev cigkwqix
2nd+4th inclu ........ cogkwr . cogkwrat cogkwrev cogkwrix
3rd+4th inclu ........ dogkyr . dogkyrat dogkyrev dogkyrix
1+2+3 ....... ........ ........ behlwq . behlwqav behlwqex
1+2+4 ....... ........ ........ bejlwr . bejlwrav bejlwrex
1+3+4 ....... ........ ........ bijlyr . bijlyrav bijlyrex
2+3+4 ....... ........ ........ cijmyr . cijmyrav cijmyrex
1+2+3+4 ..... ........ ........ ........ behmyr . behmyrax

Person .... Dual ... Trial .. Paucal . Plural . Greater Plural
1st exclusi bagkonas bagkonet bagkoniv bagkonox bagkonuz
2nd exclusi cagkopas cagkopet cagkopiv cagkopox cagkopuz
3rd exclusi dagkoqas dagkoqet dagkoqiv dagkoqox dagkoquz
4th exclusi fagkoras fagkoret fagkoriv fagkorox fagkoruz
1st+2nd inc begkup . begkupat begkupev begkupix begkupoz
1st+3rd inc bigkuq . bigkuqat bigkuqev bigkuqix bigkuqoz
1st+4th inc bogkur . bogkurat bogkurev bogkurix bogkuroz
2nd+3rd inc cigkwq . cigkwqat cigkwqev cigkwqix cigkwqoz
2nd+4th inc cogkwr . cogkwrat cogkwrev cogkwrix cogkwroz
3rd+4th inc dogkyr . dogkyrat dogkyrev dogkyrix dogkyroz
1+2+3 ..... ........ behlwq . behlwqav behlwqex behlwqiz
1+2+4 ..... ........ bejlwr . bejlwrav bejlwrex bejlwriz
1+3+4 ..... ........ bijlyr . bijlyrav bijlyrex bijlyriz
2+3+4 ..... ........ cijmyr . cijmyrav cijmyrex cijmyriz
1+2+3+4 ... ........ ........ behmyr . behmyrax behmyrez

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The system is not all that unreasonable considering the amount of information it
is tasked to deliver.

Many languages have two-syllable pronouns; this one has three-syllable pronouns, not a big step up.

Each root pronoun differs from each other root pronoun in at least two phonemes.

Except for the pure-grammatical-person singular roots (bagkon, cagkop, dagkoq,
fagkor) there is no case where two roots share four phonemes in a row; and even
in this case, both the first and the last phonemes -- high-saliency phonemes --
differ.

So I don't think the roots are likely to get confused with each other.

For any two pronouns for different numbers for the same root, they differ in at least two phonemes.

Pronouns for the same number but slightly different person/inclusiveness have
more-than-slightly-different form.

For instance compare 1st plural, 2nd plural, and 1+2 plural;
bagkonox, cagkopox, begkupix
begkupix (1+2 plural) does not have any vowel equal to the corresponding vowel of
either bagkonox (1st plural) nor cagkopox (2nd plural)

For another instance, compare 1+2 plural, 1+3 plural, and 2+3 plural to 1+2+3 plural;
begkupix, bigkuqix, and cigkwqix, to behlwqex
the "hl" and the final "e" do not occur in the 1+2, 1+3, or 2+3 plurals.

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This is what you could do if you did not wish to reduce your pronoun inventory.

Corbett's "Number" gives a few ideas on how to reduce it; more later.

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Tom H.C. in MI








		
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