Re: Combined Pronouns

H. S. Teoh wrote:
> 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.
In Tagalog, this is tayo and kami respectively.

> 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 :-)
This is reminiscent of a secret language for men among a certain
aboriginal tribe in north Australia I read about ages ago. I forget
what it is called. It is reputed to have only the pronouns
equivalent to "ego" and "non-ego". It'd be interesting to use in a
conlang, though I never really could get it to work in any practical
manner.

-kristian- 8)