Tsakxa animacy

Animacy in Tsakxa is a quality ascribed to noun stems. Although mostly consistent and predictable, the animacy system also has aspects of an honorific system. Although Dawkins (1999) uses the term 'animacy', this is a very loose classification, since the classification is to a degree fluid and numerous actually animate or inanimate nouns fall into the wrong category.

Predictable animacy

Animacy is mostly predictable. Humans, gods, body parts and certain natural forces (wind, fire etc) are animate. Animals associated with gods are animate, other animals are not. Place names are animate. Children are always considered inanimate in adult speech, although children refer to themselves as animates amongst themselves (see below for an explanation of animacy as a feature of honorific speech). The animacy of the main argument determines what agreement prefix is used:

Mama su te-tanxa - I saw a man (person 1ps ABS[ANIM]<super>-3</super>-see<super>0</super>:PERF<super>3</super>

Kut su se-tanxa - I saw a rock (rock 1ps ABS[INANIM]<super>-3</super>-see<super>0</super>:PERF<super>3</super>

Animacy as a mark of respect

However, in honorific speech, used towards one's elders, animacy becomes more fluid. The listener is treated as grammatically animate, but the speaker may treat himself as grammatically inanimate:

Sasa, asu sewala - grandfather, I'm listening

Children are always referred to as inanimates by adults, which is believed to be the root of this system (the individual is reducing themselves to the level of a child before the superior knowledge of the elder person):

Rutu tata aʔ-a-kxa se-paʔ-anxa - Rutu's father hit him

However, amongst themselves children refer to themselves using the animate. It is only to express respect to their elders (i.e. their parents) that they use the inanimate to talk about themselves.