Pronouns in Syunga
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How to use the Syungai pronouns
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 1 Sep 2015, 18:32.
[comments] cunpronouns
[top]What are the pronouns?
I could list them, or work out how to use the 'table' code but I can't be bothered. I already made a table of all 28 pronouns here.
[top]Person and Plurality
Pronouns come in three persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (I get that it's not very original but my conlang: my rules).
The first and second person pronouns do not have plurality; thus, 'nɑ' means 'I' or 'we' (actually also 'me', 'my', 'us', and 'our', as you are about to learn). Similarly 'bɾe' means 'you' in both the singular and plural sense of the word.
However, in the second person, a distinction is made between formal and informal ('bɾe' is informal and 'ei' is formal). The formal should be used to address deities, strangers, and people of higher social standing, wealth, or renown. The informal should be used for family, friends, loved ones, and also tends to be used for people of lower social standing and servants. Thus, when an employers addresses his employees, he is likely to address them with 'bɾe', they would reply with 'ei'. One unusual situation is the relationship between a shopkeeper and customer, or waiter and diner. Some people would use 'ei' to address the server as they are a stranger, others would address them as 'bɾe' because they are a temporary servant. It depends on your attitude to waiters. This problem arises with doctors and lawyers also, who may be of higher social standing while also serving you.
The third person pronouns are more complicated. Third person pronouns distinguish between animate, inanimate, sacred and plural.
The third, animate pronoun ('lɑ') is used in place of animate nouns. Thus is replaces 'person', 'heart', 'bird', etc... Plural, animate nouns are replaced by the third, plural pronoun ('ot').
The third, inanimate pronoun ('le') replaces non-living things in much the same way the animate pronoun replaces living things and should be replaced by the plural pronoun when it refers to a plural noun.
The sacred pronoun ('ɑŋ') works in the same way but for nouns in the sacred class. However, plural, sacred nouns should still use the sacred pronoun and not the plural; thus, both 'sun' and 'suns' ('sun' being sacred class) should be referred to as 'ɑŋ'.
The plural pronoun, 'ot', is used for plural nouns in the animate and inanimate classes. It is also used for all concept nouns (or abstract nouns) such as 'time'. Thus, 'time is mysterious' is rewritten as 'they are mysterious' not 'it is mysterious'. However, verbs following the plural pronoun when it refers to a singular concept should still use the singular conjugation; thus the previous sentence is actually written as 'they is mysterious'.
[top]Case
There are three cases in Syunga: the dative, the ablative, and the vocative. As well as this all nouns (and pronouns) have a 'caseless' form ( also called the 'nominative/accusative', or the 'dictionary form') which marks the nouns as being neither dative, ablative, nor vocative.
The caseless is primarily used for the subject and direct object of most verbs although some verbs require other cases (which is explained in the notes of the offending verbs in the Syunga dictionary). It is also required after some prepositions (all explained in the notes of the relevant prepositions).
The dative marks 'to/toward [pronoun]'; thus 'inɑ' means 'to me' or 'to us'. It also marks the subject or indirect object of some verbs. In addition, some prepositions modify a dative noun/pronoun.
The ablative is the opposite of the dative. It usually means 'from [pronoun]'; thus, 'unɑ' means 'from me' or 'from us'. It also marks the subject, direct object, or indirect object of some verbs. In addition, some prepositions modify an ablative noun/pronoun.
Finally, the vocative is used to address the person. It is most commonly used in greeting; thus 'obɾe' is an informal greeting similar to 'hey', while 'ɕei' is like 'hello'. The first person vocative and third person vocatives are rare. The only preposition which modifies vocative nouns is 'ɑʁi' which means 'through'; thus 'ɑʁi ole' means 'through it':
ɑʁi
through ole
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.VOCVocative (case)
'O [addressee]'
The only other use for these rare vocatives is when realising something. For example 'olɑ' meaning 'oh him' could be read as 'oh HIM' as if one has just realised who 'he' is or who their conversational partner has been talking about.
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