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Re: Inclusive or exclusive?

From:Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 17:13
On 3/20/07, Jeffrey Jones <jsjonesmiami@...> wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:43:06 +0200, Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> wrote: > > >Hi ppl, > > > >I want to ask for your advice. I'll be brief. > > > >If a language makes personal pronouns plural by adding a plural suffix to > >singular stems, like _gan_ 'thou' > _gan.tay_ 'you (pl)', and has > >inclusive/exclusive distinction in 1pl, would _nan.tay_ (< _nan_ 'I') mean > >'we (incl)' or 'we (excl)'? Its counterpart would be smth like _tan_ (that > >is, similar to the sn stem). > > > >Friendly > >-- Yitzik > > IIRC, Potawatomi uses different plural markers; 1st person + the 1st plural is > exclusive and 1st person + the 2nd plural is inclusive. The 2nd person uses the > 2nd plural.
I discuss Potawatomi pronouns and verbal inflection in my undergraduate morphology class. The pronouns are: nin '1sg', kin '2sg', win '3sg'; kinan '1pl.incl', ninan '2pl.excl' kinwa '2pl', winwa '3pl'. Pronouns seem to be built on the stem -in. In the plural, the suffixes -an '1pl' and -wa 'non-1pl' are added to the pronominal stem. The prefixes are n- '1', k- '2', and w- '3'. To make a first person plural inclusive, you use k- '2' together with -an '1pl'. For first person exclusive, you use n- '1' together with -an '1pl'. I find it to be an elegant system, and i just may use it sometime. So there's another Native American system for Yitzik to ponder :-).
> Jeff
Dirk

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Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...>