Eldertongue: Pronouns

Pronouns are complicated critters, and it is more than likely that I will revisit pronouns at a later stage. For a good writeup on English pronouns, see http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/pronouns.html.

ab: This is the first person pronoun stem.
o: This is the second person pronoun stem.
arba: This is "I and you" -- the inclusive "we".

In http://hermitgeecko.livejournal.com/185025.html, I examined noun modifications. While these noun modifications are optional with nouns that are present, they are not optional with these pronouns.

Note that it is never appropriate to use ab or o without modifying for proximity and gender. Under most circumstances, the unspoken "I" and unspoken "you" are much preferred. With that said, the modified forms may be used for emphasis or clarification.

Compare:

Zharoo.
I am about to sing to you.

If it is significant for some reason that I (the singer) am female and you (the listener) are male, then I can add this information into the sentence.

Zharoo mabzog ododo.
I (I am present and female) sing to you (you are present and male).

However, the most standard use of ab and o is for plurality. The default I and you are singular, so ab and o must be used to create the plural first person and the plural second person.

Ibjag odabeuveg.
I am about to kick you (plural, mixed gender.)

Rou ruluv madodeuveg!
You (plural, mixed gender), follow me!

Azegur djalur madodeuveg odabeuveg.
Long ago, you (plural, mixed gender) trusted us (plural, mixed gender).

Here is another example, incorporating arba.

Zharoo marbazoj ododoj.
We who are female (including me and the other women present whom I am addressing) are about to sing to you (you who are male and present and whom I am also addressing.)

(Under informal circumstances, a better translation of that last sentence might actually be, "Women, we're going to sing to the men! Listen up, men!")

There are times when the hypothetical form is used with ab, o, and arba. The primary purpose is to suggest a future option, as so:

Zharoo madodom odaroo.
You could sing to the dog.

Note how this differs from modifying the verb with evidentiality: a hypothetical noun makes a suggestion. A possible verb does not, as so:

Gizuv zharoog odaroo.
It is possible that you are about to sing to the dog.

Eldertongue is a language with a strong sense of status and power. (This will be discussed in further detail later with the critical verb jen.) The intricacies of imperatives among social classes have not been addressed until this point, but it is inappropriate to give a standard imperative to someone of greater power than yourself (child to parent, subject to lord, and so forth.) Instead, the hypothetical form is used, as demonstrated below. The closest translation of the hypothetical imperative is the English helping verb "could".

Rou zharoo.
Sing to me. (standard imperative)

Rou zharoo madodom.
You could sing to me. (polite imperative)

There are several other pronouns that deserve attention, though they lack the same immediate complexity that the personal pronouns possess.

First, zhol. Eldertongue has one reflexive pronoun, and this is it. This pronoun is used only in the object position. It does not require "od". It is not modified in any fashion.

Zharoo zhol.
I am about to sing to myself.

Djalur mameu zhol.
The cat trusts itself. (This may be better translated as "the cat trusts its instincts" or "the cat has no doubt".)

The next two, za and azod, come as a pair. Za refers to the subject referenced in the prior sentence and azod refers to the object referenced in the prior sentence. This makes more sense in demonstration than in explanation.

Ruluv maroo odgobda. Zharoo maza odazod.
The dog is about to follow the horse. The dog (being the subject of the prior sentence) is about to sing to the horse (being the object of the prior sentence).

Ruluv maburjoz odgobda. Ibja mazod odza.
The person is about to follow the horse. The horse (being the object of the prior sentence) is about to kick the person (being the subject of the prior sentence).

It is important to note that, once za and azod are introduced, they do not change until a new object or subject are introduced. See the following example:

Ver ruluv mameu odoudin. Veg mornuv maza odazod. Ver mornuv maza odazod. Ibja mazod odza.
The cat is following the horse. Za (the cat) decides azod (the horse) is prey. Za (the cat) hunts azod (the horse). Azod (the horse) is about to kick za (the cat).

One more pronoun is auga, which refers to the entirety of the prior sentence. It does not fit with any of our prior verbs very well, so a new one must be added into vocabulary.

ibul: to observe (commencement: to start watching -- reversal: to be oblivious to/ignorant of).

Vor mornuv mameug odaroo. Vor ibul auga.
The cat just hunted the dog. I observed that (everything from the prior sentence).
A more straightforward English translation would be "I observed the cat hunting the dog."

Lesson finished. Class dismissed!