Personal Pro-forms
These are a closed class. They are marked for case and person. The third person pronouns are additionally marked for topicality or animacy. The alienable genitive acts as the nominal head of a possessive phrase, the inalienable genitive is a determiner, and the other pronouns all act as nouns.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| topic | animate | inanimate | ||||
| intranstitive | ’usu うす | filli べっえ | (su’a) すあ | mihu みほ | pa ぱ | |
| transitive | suma すま | fu ふ | (su’a) すあ | quhu もほ | ’iffa いっへ | |
| ablative | puttu ぷっと | sacu さゆ | raja らぢ | kassi かっせ | kalu かを | |
| dative | pixi ぴし | ba’u ばう | datu だと | jusi よせ | ku く | |
| genitive | (alienable) | pagu ぱぐ | ba ば | su’a すあ | disi でせ | - |
| (inalienable) | -pahi ぱひ | -ba ば | - | -disi でせ | -qa げ | |
first person:
- intransitive: ’usu うす
- transitive: suma すま
- ablative: puttu ぷっと
- dative: pixi ぴし
- alienable genitive: pagu ぱぐ
- inalienable genitive: -pahi ぱひ
second person:
- intransitive: filli べっえ
- transitive: fu ふ
- ablative: sacu さゆ
- dative: ba’u ばう
- alienable genitive: ba ば
- inalienable genitive: -ba ば
third person topic:
- intransitive: (su’a) すあ
- transitive: (su’a) すあ
- ablative: raja らぢ
- dative: datu だと
- alienable genitive: su’a すあ
third person animate:
- intransitive: mihu みほ
- transitive: quhu もほ
- ablative: kassi かっせ
- dative: jusi よせ
- alienable genitive: disi でせ
- inalienable genitive: -disi でせ
third person inanimate:
Number
Pronouns are not generally marked for number.
ʔusu ra’u pannaxa. / ʔusu ra’u pannaxa’uxxi.
。うすらうぱっなざうっし。うすらうぱっなざ。
’usu ra’u pannaxa. / ’usu ra’u pannaxa’uxxi.
1int prs;sta warrior. / 1int prs;sta army.
“I am a warrior.” / “We are an army.”
However, if reference is made to a group that includes more than one of these persons, then additional pronouns can be constructed. The second person transitive pronoun -fu ふ and you can be suffixed to the first person pronouns to form first person inclusive plural pronouns. The third person intransitive inanimate pronoun -pa ぱ and them can be suffixed to first or second person pronouns, including those with -fu, to form other plural pronouns. These pronouns have no inalienable genitive form.
| 1st person | 2nd person | all persons | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| inclusive | exclusive | inclusive | ||
| intransitive | ’usufu うすふ | ’usupa うすぱ | fillipa べっえぱ | ’usufupa うすふぱ |
| transitive | sumafu すまふ | sumapa すまぱ | fupa ふぱ | sumafupa すまふぱ |
| ablative | puttufu ぷっとふ | puttupa ぷっとぱ | sacupa さゆぱ | puttufupa ぷっとふぱ |
| dative | pixifu ぴしふ | pixipa ぴしぱ | ba’upa ばうぱ | pixifupa ぴしふぱ |
| alienable genitive | pagufu ぱぐふ | pagupa ぱぐぱ | bapa ばぱ | pagufupa ぱぐふぱ |
first person inclusive:
- intransitive: ’usufu うすふ
- transitive: sumafu すまふ
- ablative: puttufu ぷっとふ
- dative: pixifu ぴしふ
- alienable genitive: pagufu ぱぐふ
first person exclusive:
- intransitive: ’usupa うすぱ
- transitive: sumapa すまぱ
- ablative: puttupa ぷっとぱ
- dative: pixipa ぴしぱ
- alienable genitive: pagupa ぱぐぱ
second person inclusive:
- intransitive: fillipa べっえぱ
- transitive: fupa ふぱ
- ablative: sacupa さゆぱ
- dative: ba’upa ばうぱ
- alienable genitive: bapa ばぱ
all persons:
- intransitive: ’usufupa うすふぱ
- transitive: sumafupa すまふぱ
- ablative: puttufupa ぷっとふぱ
- dative: pixifupa ぴしふぱ
- alienable genitive: pagufupa ぱぐふぱ
“You and he have betrayed me!”
Genitive Forms
The genitive forms mark a connection between nouns, including one noun possessing another.
Alienable Possession
Possession is alienable when the possessed item can be transferred from one owner to another. Alienable possessions include objects bought or received by a person. There is no inanimate alienable genitive pronoun as objects cannot own anything.
The structure of the possessive phrase for alienable possession is “possessor genitive possessed”.
“the mother’s fork”
“her car”
“my musical instrument”
“his strawberry”
This structure is also used in a hierarchy when the ‘possessor’ is of higher rank than the ‘possessed’.
Inalienable Possession
Inalienable possession refers to items which are unable to be transferred from one individual to another. Inalienable possessions include relatives, parts of the body and objects created by a person.
For inalienable possession, as well as genitive constructions that do not involve literal possession, the structure is “possessed-genitive possessor“, that is, the genitive marker is an enclitic on the possessed item. This marker is always the third person inanimate genitive pronoun, unless the possessor is a plain pronoun.
“my arm”
“the queen’s father”
“the sheep field”
“Ryan (of the family) Eakins”
“Caemi of Tinellb”
This structure is also used in a hierarchy when the ‘possessor’ is of lower rank than the ‘possessed’, in contrast to the alienable example above.
“my queen”
Items inalienably possessed by the topic appear without a genitive pronoun.
“the face” / “his face”
Some kinship terms have suppletive forms when used with a plain possessive pronoun. See that section for details.