Re: Personal Conjugation based on Closeness

On Wed, Mar 26, 2003 at 01:28:13PM -0800, Arthaey Angosii wrote:
[snip]
> As a side effect of being telepathic, Cresaeans "bond," with varying
> strength, to the people around them.  Cresaeans see their bondings as a
> sort of network, centered at the self.  The 3 people closest to you, that
[snip]

Cool! You won't believe this, but you've just explained something about
the Ebisedian pronominal system that I didn't quite have the words for.
Only, in Ebisedian there are only 2 "rings", the "intimate" and the
"distant", and the rings aren't really fixed (they fluctuate depending on
the speaker's mood).

The intimate pronouns are always used to refer to people the speaker
regards as close to him (in terms of relationship, not physical distance),
on his side, in his "inner circle", etc.. The distant pronouns are used
for everyone (and everything) else. Ebisedian has no concept of 2nd or 3rd
person; the exact same words may be addressed to you, or be referring to
you but addressed to someone else. You have to rely on body language to
know which is which.

(A bit of etymology here: the Ebisedian pronouns arose from original terms
of address, similar to how in Japanese, students always refer to the
teacher as "teacher" instead of using a pronoun. The original meaning of
what are now the intimate pronouns was "friend" or "close one"; it still
retains this meaning in some contexts.[1] Similarly, the original meaning
of what are now the distant pronouns was "stranger". Over time, the
pronouns in the original language were lost, and these became pronouns in
their place.)


[1] One such context which arises frequently is the idiomatic term of
address which suffixes a person's name with a corresponding pronoun; for
example, _`ylii' `yjubi'_ [Hy"li: HydZu"bi] (Ylia the Close One). It is
roughly equivalent to saying "my dear Ylia" in English. The corresponding
address with a distant pronoun is _`ylii' `yjhiti'_ [Hy"li: HyZi"ti],
"Ylia the Distant One". It carries a less personal, more formal tone,
which may be better translated as the formal term of address "Miss Ylia".

Another context is when the intimate pronoun is used as a term of
adoration: _co'mi. co'mi._ "my dear, my dear". Strictly speaking, _co'mi_
is a pronoun; but it'd be very odd to translate this as "you, you" ---
totally different connotations in English!

[snip]
> These terms describe the ring itself, not the person in them.  That is, my
> best friend is _in_ my aejhel, she is not the aejhel itself.
Cool, I'll have to coin words to describe the "intimate" and "distant"
ring-equivalents in Ebisedian.

[snip]
> These pronouns are now reserved for things which are not telepathic -- that
> is, the ring-scheme conjugations are only for telepathic beings (kinda like
> the distinction we make for sentience).  A telepath can be intentionally
> "downgraded" to the non-telepath pronouns as an insult.
The Ebisedian pronouns have nothing to do with telepathy, but an analogous
insult exists: if you suddenly start addressing a close friend with a
distant pronoun, it's an insult, or a hint that that person has offended
you.

On the other hand, if you start addressing strangers with intimate
pronouns, it can cause them to wonder if you were an unknown relative, or
you were being flirtatious, or perhaps dishonest and trying to sweet-mouth
them into a scam.

[snip]
> One last note, and then I'll leave you alone (if you even got this far
> <grin>, in which case I thank you).
I did get this far. :-)

> For me personally, living here on Earth, a planet noticeably
> telepath-deficient, I use the telepath pronouns for sentient things and
> non-telepath ones for everything else.  If I were on Cresaea, I'd have
> to change my deviant ways.  :)
[snip]

I unconsciously use intimate pronouns as 2nd person and distant as 3rd,
but they are really independent of person.


T

--
Don't get stuck in a closet -- wear yourself out.

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