VOS: Nouns and Pronouns

[qiihoskeh]

Last Edited: 2006.Jul.16 Sun

Noun Declension

Declension of nouns is very simple: the plural is formed from the singular by adding -x (the tag is -P).

Pronouns

The 1st and 2nd person pronouns are used for focused, topicalized, and emphasized arguments; otherwise the actants are used. Note that they take 3rd person agreement. The 3rd person pronouns may have anaphoric use.

Person	Number	Tag	Pronoun
1st	singular	1S	mum
	exclusive plural	1P	meme
	inclusive plural	1N	hehe
2nd	singular	2S	kuk
	plural	2P	kege

Person	Gender	Tag	Pronoun
3rd	animate	3A	cii
	inanimate	3I	luu
	(either)	3S	nee

* Nee substitutes for cii immediately after a word ending in -c(i).
* Nee substitutes for luu immediately after a word ending in -l(u).

Dummy Nouns

In contrast to the pronouns, which replace whole phrases, dummy nouns fill the noun part of the phrase and can take noun plurals.

Gender	Tag	Pronoun
animate	Ani	co
inanimate	Ina	lo
(either)	Sub	ne

* Ne substitutes for co immediately after a word ending in -c(i).
* Ne substitutes for lo immediately after a word ending in -l(u).

Examples

mu-naf-ci ne-berro-x	"I saw the dogs."
1S-(see)-3A Def-(dog)-P
mum ne-naf-ci ne-berro-x	"It was me that saw the dogs."
1S Def-(see)-3A Def-(dog)-P
pya ku-naf-ci nee	"Did you see them?"
Int 2S-(see)-3A 3S
hox-he cii	"They heard us."
3.(hear)-1N 3A
naf-he co-x ku-hox-ci	"The ones you heard saw us."
3.(see)-1N Ani-P 2S-(hear)-3A