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Vodholk pronouns, persons & agreement

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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 27 Feb 2021, 02:56.

[comments] voksvokpronounsagreementperson Vodholk (6 articles)

[Public] ? ?

1. Direction of action in Vodholk ? ?

2. MV Handshapes & glossing ? ?

3. Spoken Vodholk basic grammar ? ?

4. Vodholk case ? ?

5. Vodholk phonology ? ?

6. Vodholk pronouns, persons & agreement ? ?

+ Write new article in Vodholk

Menu 1. The pronouns 2. Agreement 3. First person internal 4. First person inclusive 5. Fourth person - obviative 6. Fifth person - generic

[edit] [top]The pronouns

Vodholk pronouns decline by person and number, for a grand total of fourteen pronouns. They do not show any kind of gender, but can have cases suffixed to them (optionally). Vodholk is a pro-drop language, and the subject pronoun or both subject and object pronouns can be dropped.

The pronouns in Spoken Vodholk (SV) are:

person	gloss	singular	plural
first exclusive	1	ke	kele
first inclusive	12	ke	fele
first internal	11	et	etel
second	2	po	pol
third	3	tek	tel
obviative	4	a	al
generic	5	la	lal

The first persons internal and inclusive and the fourth person (or obviative) and fifth person (generic) do not exist in English, so their uses will be detailed below.

[edit] [top]Agreement

Each pronoun has agreement markers for nominative and "elsewhere" cases. There must always be at least one agreement marker on all non-infinitive verbs. If there is a nominative argument, it must receive agreement.

Nominative:

person	gloss	singular	plural
first	1	-k	-le
first internal	11	-ɂe	-lo
first inclusive	12	-f	-f
second	2	-p	-l
third	3	-t	-to
obviative	4	-s	-se
generic	5	-la	-lal

Elsewhere:

person	gloss	singular	plural
first	1	-ak	-l
first internal	11	-ɂap	-ɂel
first inclusive	12	-of	-e
second	2	-op	-o
third	3	-at	-ea
obviative	4	-as	-sal
generic	5	-al	-al

[edit] [top]First person internal

The internal person is used to describe the "second person in your head," or is often characterized as the "ego" (while the true first person is the "id" or the whole.) This is (at least in theory) is the pronoun used when e.g. arguing with oneself in one's head, or reporting on such an event to another person.

[scenario: you've just done something embarrassing] Akɂoɂa epela, eta peɂpol kas akɂoɂe [akʔoʔa ebela, eða meʔpol ŋas akʔoʔe] that-ALLAllative (case)
'to, onto' PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-stupid, 11Internal person (person)
I/you, in your own head.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity-ANTGAntagonistic (class, narrative alignment)
opposed to speaker NEGNegative (polarity)
not-PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-do DEBDebitive (mood)
'should' that-ANTGAntagonistic (class, narrative alignment)
opposed to speaker 'that was stupid, you/I/we shouldn't have done that'
Tetosk ke et ekokolkɂap telel epel [ðiðosk ŋe iθ egogolkʔap ðelel ebel] yesterday-LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc 1SGUnknown code 11Internal person (person)
I/you, in your own head.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-argue-1SGUnknown code-11SGUnknown code hour-ESSEssive (case)
'as, similar' three 'yesterday I argued with myself for three hours'

The plural of the internal person is used somewhat rarely. It can describe a reflexive internal action, or coming to an agreement after a long bout of internal arguing:

Kla ekepeset, ak et kla sofaf ekokolkɂap pelelal, tele epeɂoslo klosak [gla egebeziθ, ak gla novaf egogolkʔap melelal, ðele ebeʔozlo glozak] LVLowest volition (volition/ role)
least agentive/ volitional argument PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-effort.3SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument, and 11SGUnknown code LVLowest volition (volition/ role)
least agentive/ volitional argument thing-ELAElative (case)
'out of, from' PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-argue-1SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-11Internal person (person)
I/you, in your own head.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity long.time-ESSEssive (case)
'as, similar', but PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-decide-11PLUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument now-LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc 'it was tough, and I argued with myself about it for a long time, but I/we have now come to a decision'
otosloalt [oðozloalθ] hate-11PL-RFXReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself 'I/we hate my/ourself'

[edit] [top]First person inclusive

This person is used to differentiate who is included in statements which could be ambiguous in English; for instance if you and a group of friends are together with another person, you could say "we're cool people," but it's not clear whether the addressee is included in the cool people or if you're just referring to you and your friends. In the singular, first person inclusive glosses as "you and me."

ʔsasef. [ʔsazif] be.neat-12First person inclusive (person)
speaker and addressee; you and me/usSG 'you and me are cool.'
Ta faspef spaf? [ða vaspef spaf] QInterrogative
question want-12SG play? do the two of us want to play?
Wskeofe atapa! [iskeove aðaba] go.out-12PL AUXAuxilliary-HORTHortative (mood)
'let's...' let's all go out!

[edit] [top]Fourth person - obviative

The obviative person is similar to third person, but the two can be distinguished in one or multiple of a several features.

	third	fourth
proximity	proximate	distal
familiarity	familiar	unfamiliar
volition	volitional	less volitional
case	nominative	other
topicality	important	less important
animacy	animate	inanimate

An argument does not have to fulfill all of either set of criteria to be listed as third or fourth person - the two will be distinguished by whichever is most salient in the circumstances. There is something of a hierarchy though: an unfamiliar argument will be the fourth person even if it is more topical, animate, and takes nominative case, because familiarity is a higher criterion. There is also an obviative determiner, sel which is optionally prefixed to the obviative argument. Note that in the examples below, the English translation will use "she" for third and "he" for fourth, but there is never gender connotation in the original Vodholk. Some examples of various uses:

proximity: tek a eloestas [ðek a eloesθas] 3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity 4Fourth person (person)
obviative, not present.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-think.on-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-4Fourth person (person)
obviative, not present.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity 'she thought of him, far away'

proximity, familiarity: epósolaɂe etekas Ostekoetosɂe patosas, a ta kaefepas? [ebózolaɂe eðegas osθegoeðosɂe maðozas, a ða ŋaevebas] DEMDemonstrative
e.g. this/ that-city.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient is.there-4SGUnknown code osetekoetos-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient name-4SGUnknown code, 4SGUnknown code QInterrogative
question know-2SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-4SGUnknown code? 'there isa city far away called Undiquitus, do you know it?'

volition, case: olkɂe epeo eskeɂatas [olkʔe ebeo iskeɂaðas] orc-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient human.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity-ANTGAntagonistic (class, narrative alignment)
opposed to speaker PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-attack-3SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-4SGUnknown code 'the human attacked the orc'

familiarity: sel kosfósla keθ θalaɂe eɂalpasat! [zel ŋosfózla ŋeθ ðalaʔe eʔalbazaθ] OBVObviative (person, proximity)
not near/visible/important DEMDemonstrative
e.g. this/ that-stranger 1SGUnknown code-GENGenitive (case)
possessive friend-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech-harm-4SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-3SGUnknown code 'that stranger hurt my friend!'

topicality: klasekaɂe pasekat sel talasos fesefok eskeole, tele kosfokat [glazegaʔe mazegaθ zel ðalazos vezivok iskeole, ðele ŋosfogaθ] alcohol-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient take-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee OBVObviative (person, proximity)
not near/visible/important friend-COMComitative (case)
'together with' party-LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc go.out-1PFirst person plural (person)
we (inclusive or exclusive), but drop-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee 'I took some alcohol and went out with a friend to a party, but I dropped it'

[edit] [top]Fifth person - generic

The singular generic person is roughly to the English pronoun "one" or generic "you," while the plural is akin to the "they" in sentences like "You know, they say that..." or in common truths (gnomic constructions) such as "It is said that..."

La paotelaea polákɂe ak tel folotoea asa paopɂe [la maoðelaya molákʔe ak ðel voloðoya aza maopʔe] 5Fifth person (person)
indefinite or generic; one, "they" say that.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity tame-5SGUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-3PLUnknown code wolf.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient and 3PLUnknown code become-3PLUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument-3PLUnknown code AUXAuxilliary-GNOGnomic (aspect/mood)
common, timeless truths dog-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient '(if) one tames wolves they will become dogs'
Lal afaoelal efel a paop talakase olklal a kalál. [lal avawelal evel a maop ðalagaze olglal a ŋalál] 5Fifth person (person)
indefinite or generic; one, "they" say that.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few tell-5Fifth person (person)
indefinite or generic; one, "they" say that.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument human-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few and dog friend.VBZVerbaliser
converts N, ADJ etc into verb-4PLUnknown code.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument orc-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-ESSEssive (case)
'as, similar' cat-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few-ESSEssive (case)
'as, similar' 'they say that humans and dogs get along as well as orcs and cats'

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