Re: 1st person plural we and its forms

On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 17:38:21 -0500 Peter Clark <peter-clark@...>
writes:
> On Friday 12 July 2002 17:24, Jake X wrote:
> > OK, so has anyone noticed the multiple meanings of we? All the
> other
> > pronoun slots seem to be pretty clear in who they can include, but
> English
> > we can also include the adressed person(s) 2nd singular or plural.
> Does any
> > lang make the distinction?
>         As a matter of fact, many languages make a distinction
> between "inclusive we"
> and "exclusive we." It's a great distinction, but can get a little
> tricky in
> large group situations, in which some members of the group are
> "included" and
> others are "excluded." For instance, if you are at a party and half
> the group
> wants pizza and the other half wants Chinese, do you state "We(i)
> want pizza"
> or "We(e) want pizza"? Of course, every language will have different
> rules
> regarding usage, and of course context matters. I suppose (although
> I have
> never heard of it) a language could have a third form of "we"
> (perhaps just
> generic?) to handle situations in which you cannot or wish not to
> make a distinction.
>         :Peter
-

One of my 'minor' conlangs, Gabwe, has 6 pronouns, four of which are
first-person:

EK = me
GUR' = exclusive we (me+them)
HIB = inclusive we (me+you)
TUY = all-inclusive we (me+you+them)

(the other two were the number-indeterminate YAW (you) and DA (them))


-Stephen (Steg)
 "am i your brother's keeper?"

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