Re: Combined Pronouns

On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 10:06:19AM +0100, Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:
> On Wednesday 07 November 2001 03:31, you wrote:
>
> > I and you
> > He and I
> > she and I
> > Them and me
> > You and them
> >
> > Anyone know a language, con or true, that has a system like this?
>
> "true"? Are constructed languages false? :-)
>
> This phenomenon is called "inclusive and exclusive pronouns" and yes,
> there are many languages that have it, though other people than me
> will have to give examples.
[snip]

In Malay, we have two 2nd person plurals, one which includes the listener,
and one which includes only the speaker and the people with him:

kita    - "we", as in, "all of us", including the listener.
kami    - "we", as in, "me and my folks", excluding the listener.

I kinda borrowed and adapted this idea in my conlang: instead of 2nd and
3rd person pronouns, I have the "intimate" and "distant" pronouns, with
the "intimate" pronouns covering the speaker and all those he considers
"close" to him, or on his side; and the "distant" pronouns referring to
the "outsiders", or those whom he doesn't consider to be on his side.
(I've posted some examples of this before; I won't bother posting more
here unless people are interested :-)


T

--
Why is the sea always restless? It's bed is too rocky to sleep on.

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