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Re: GROUPLANG: Pronouns

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, October 15, 1998, 16:59
Pablo Flores wrote:

> but at least it should > have an inclusive/exclusive distinction for 1st and 2nd > person plural.
I'll go for inclusive/exclusive in 1st person, but not 2nd person. I don't know of any natlangs with that distinction in 2nd person. If we want a really interesting (and complicated) system, how's about this: singular/dual/paucal/plural (or singular/dual/trial/plural) for at least 1st and 2nd persons Gender in 1st and 2nd person Regular (or nearly regular) declinsion More cases than nouns Polite/Informal (perhaps more than two distinctions) in *all* persons, or at least 1st and 2nd. For example, 3rd person polite would express respect towards the person referred to Any other ideas?
> And of course, the proximate/obviative distinction in the > third person; OR the three-step deixis marker I proposed > in my previous post.
Either one would fly with me. Gender should be included, tho. So, if we have proximate/obviate in the third person (4 persons, if you will), 4 numbers, 2 levels of politeness, and inclusive/exclusive in 1st person, 10 cases (is that the consensus?), and, say, 4 genders, then we'd have 1560 pronouns - of course, these would be formed regularly, so no need to memorize hundreds of pronouns. -- "It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father was hanged." - Irish proverb http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files ICQ: 18656696 AOL: NikTailor