Khangaþyagon Pronouns
Khangaþyagon has few true pronouns, as the role of relative and interrogative pronouns is taken by nouns marked with modsegunakar. However, there have some important syntactical features.
As the direct object is not morphologically marked, the subject of a finite clause must always be explicitly represented, ie Khangaþyagon is not pro-drop.
Personal pronouns and obviation
Khangaþyagon's personal pronouns are
- ya
- 1st person
- ye
- 2nd person
- yi
- 3rd person proximate
- de
- 3rd person obviate
The third person proximate pronoun yi normally refers to the most discourse prominent 3rd person referent, which in most circumstances is the most recently stated subject. When it is necessary to refer to a different entity from the one to which yi would most obviously refer, the third person obviate pronoun de is used. When de is used as a subject, the verb is marked for the 3rd person, the same as for yi.
yubing rik poh, beb skushing de yi
yub- | i- | ng | rik | poh | beb | skush- | i- | ng | de | yi |
marry | 3p | PT | man | woman | and | kiss | 3p | PT | OBV | PROX |
The man married the woman, and she kissed him.
Obviation is only used to disambiguate references when they are both of the same grammatical number.
Reflexive pronoun
The pronoun ansidi (oneself) is used to refer back to the subject of the same clause, when it recurrs in a role other than the direct object. It can refer to subjects of any person.
aping khangaþgevont brakht ansidiung
ap- | i- | ng | khangaþ- | ge- | v- | ont | brakht | ansidi- | ung |
make | 3p | PT | magic | true | know | PrP | wand | REFL | BEN |
The wizard made a wand for himself.
sabegrelt ye snaugar sur shosh snaugar ansidiuz
sabegr- | e | lt | ye | snaug- | ar | su- | r | shosh | snaug- | ar | ansidi- | uz |
tolerate | 2p | IMP | 2p | fault | PL | all | PL | but | fault | PL | REFL | POSS |
Tolerate all faults but your own.
ansidi is rarely used in the unmarked form, and never as a direct object. However, it may be used as an emphatic pronoun to stress the identity of the speaker.
rafkakh ansidi khorrhassass
rafk- | a- | kh | ansidi | khorr- | hassass |
kill | 1p | FT | REFL | fire |
I myself will slay the dragon
Pronouns as phrase heads
Pronouns may be qualified by relative clauses and nouns marked with local segunakar, but not by adjectives or nouns marked with abstract segunakar.
Back | Up | Next |
---|---|---|
Basic Word Order | Syntax | Subordinate Clauses and Reported Speech |