Re: Pronoun 'bases'/stems (was Re: stress and accusative in Uusisuom)

Eric Christopherson wrote:

> Hi, all. Just wondering what other (con|nat)langs have a morpheme like this
> that is used in all pronouns. I've had the idea to use Semitic-style
> possessive pronoun suffixes, and make the actual pronouns out of a fixed
> pronoun stem plus the correct pronoun suffix.
I'm rather fond of the pronoun system in Tokana, which has a number of
regularities, such as the prefixing of "i-" to all the oblique forms, but also
some pleasing irregularities and semi-regularities.  Here's the paradigm, for any
who are interested:

NOTES: The seven cases are absolutive, nominative, instrumental, dative/locative,
allative, ablative, and comitative, respectively.  The absolutive and nominative
each have a stressed 'full' form (e.g. "mai, ami") and an unstressed 'light' form
(e.g. "me, ma").  Tokana distinguishes first person plural exclusive and
inclusive, "min" and "kim", respectively.  The former is rather transparently
built from the pronouns "me" and "s/he", while the latter is built from "you" and
"me":

                   sing.       pl.

1st pers.  abs.    mai, me     min / kim
           nom.    ami, ma     mina / kima
           ins.    iman        iminna / ikimna
           dat.    ime'        imine / ikime
           all.    imen        iminne / ikimne
           abl.    imaul       iminul / ikimul
           com.    imom        iminmo / ikimmo

2nd pers.  abs.    koi, ke     kyin
           nom.    aku, ko     kyina
           ins.    ikon        ikyinna
           dat.    ikoi        ikyine
           all.    ikoin       ikyinne
           abl.    ikoul       ikyinul
           com.    ikom        ikyinmo

3rd pers.  abs.    nai, ne     sai, se
animate    nom.    ani, na     asi, sa
           ins.    inan        isan
           dat.    ine'        ise'
           all.    inen        isen
           abl.    inaul       isaul
           com.    inom        isom

3rd pers.  abs.    tai, te     tsoi, tse
inanimate  ins.    itan        itson
           dat.    ite'        itsoi
           all.    iten        itsoin
           abl.    itaul       itsoul
           com.    itom        itsom

As many of you know, the third person pronouns double as determiners, which match
the animacy and number of the noun they determine--e.g., "ne ikei" (the dog), "se
ikei" (the dogs); "te uhin" (the song), "tse uhin" (the songs).

Note finally that the third person inanimate pronouns lack the nominative form.
That's because nominative case-marked noun phrases in Tokana must be volitional,
and it is impossible for an inanimate entity to act volitionally.

Matt.