Re: Fourth Person
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, October 5, 1998, 6:58 |
|---|
At 13:36 04/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I've been wondering about something recently: is it possible for languages
>to have a fourth person? I heard that some native American language somewhere
>like in New York State or something had one (Haida?), but don't remember the
>details. In any event, I wonder whether that would be something equivalent to
>the use of "one" in English or "man" in German.
>
I know that in some languages, the 1st person plural is so different
from what we're used to that some linguists call it "fourth person", and the
second person plural "fifth person".
In astou, one of my conlangs that is not available yet on the web, I
use five persons very different from what we're used to. I've got:
- the 'I', for the speaker,
- the 'not-I', for everybody except the speaker (even the second person and
the third one) that is here,
- the 'no-person', which has no pronoun, for everything and everybody that
is not here,
- the 'inclusive us', 'I'+'not-I',
- the 'exclusive us', 'I'+'no-person'.
As you can see, the system "1st, 2nd, 3rd persons" doesn't function
well for this language.
>=======================================================
>Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
>ICQ#: 4315704 AIM: Deuterotom
>Website: <
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
>"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
>
>"Ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit."
> - poster found on professor's door.
>========================================================
>
>