Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

 --- Mike Ellis <nihilsum@...> wrote:

> That is cool. I've been toying with four-level
> deixis articles for an
> unnamed language: near me, near you, near neither of
> us, indefinite. It's a
> lot like the Japanese ko-, so-, a- system, but with
> a fourth level added.
> This is tied to the concept of the "fourth person"
> pronoun, which will be
> an indefinite, unspecified, or "null" subject.
> Fourth person conjugation
> will therefore replace the passive voice: "(4p)
> broke the plate" for "the
> plate was broken".
Neat!  Old Starrish also has an additional person in
its pronoun system, which for lack of a better name I
often call a "1.5 person pronoun", because it's
somewhere between 1st and 2nd person.

If the speaker refers to themself (or a group
containing themself) with a 1st person pronoun, and to
the person or group they're talking to with a 2nd
person pronoun...

Well, with a 1.5 person pronoun, there is some sort of
identity between speaker and audience.  So in the
plural, it is basically inclusive "we" - it refers to
the group addressed, which must contain the speaker.
Similarly for the dual. The singular form is used in
addressing or talking to oneself (great for
soliloquies!).  It is not considered odd to talk to
oneself in Old Starrish.

Interestingly, although the plural 1.5 person pronoun
is essentially inclusive "we", Old Starrish has no
word for exclusive "we", since the 1st person plural
could be inclusive or exclusive "we" (although it may
in later history have developed into exclusive "we").

Rachel Klippenstein


______________________________________________________________________
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

Reply