Re: Pronounlessly

On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Kristian Jensen wrote:

> Gustavo wrote:
>
> >        Are there languages that don't have personal pronouns? Or
> >that use demonstratives instead? I know some languages do it in the
> >third person, but, what about languages that don't have specific
> >pronouns for the other persons?
>
> I read somewhere in the net that the secret men's language of
> Australia's Lardil tribe had a pronoun system quite unlike what
> you'd normally expect to find in a language. Its a binary system of
> 'ego' versus 'other'. So you could say that this language does not
> have specific pronouns for other persons in the sense that I would
> refer to both you and him/her by 'other'. When refering to myself,
> its of course 'ego'.
>
> I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but there is suppose to be a
> dispute as to whether this secret Lardil language is in fact a
> natural language. Some call it a language game (or constructed
> language) played (or constructed) by men in the Lardil tribe. The
> pronoun system isn't the only thing that is unusual. It has clicks
> in its phonology, which is quite unique for an Australian language
> (or any language outside Africa for that matter).
>
> -Kristian- 8-)
I want more information about this language, but can find none on the
net.  Is there a book I could get that's not going to bankrupt me?  Maybe
even a grammar?

--Patrick