sing. | pl. | |
---|---|---|
1st | I | we |
2nd | you | *y'all |
3rd anim. | he/she | them |
3rd inanim. | it | them |
Māori has singular and dual, for two of something. Therefore, plural means 'three of more'. Māori also distinguishes between 'we' that includes the hearer, and 'we' that excludes the hearer. In English, we'd have to resort to "you and us", "y'all and us", "you and I", and "y'all and I". Here's Māori:
Sing. | Dual | Pl. | |
---|---|---|---|
1st. excl. | Ahau, Au | Māua | Mātou |
1st. incl. | - | Tāua | Tātou |
2nd | Koe | Korua | Koutou |
3rd | Ia | Rāua | Rātou |
Na'vi has the singular, dual and trial numbers. That means 'plural' means 'four or more'! Here is the system of pronouns:
Sing. | Dual | Trial | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st excl. | oe | moe | pxoe | ayoe |
1st incl. | - | oeng | pxoeng | ayoeng, awnga |
2nd | nga | menga | pxenga | aynga |
3rd anim. | po | mefo | pxefo | ayfo, fo |
3rd inanim. | tsa'u, tsaw | mesa'u | pxesa'u | aysa'u, sa'u |
But one words seems weird: pxoeng. It's the #3 prefix -- pxe+ -- plus the root 'I' -- oe -- plus most of the word for you -- ng. Why doesn't that mean "the three of us and you'? Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot from Na'vi, especially about the trial number. I hadn't thought clearly about 1st person plural (or dual or trial) personal pronouns before, and the separation into 'exclusive' and 'inclusive' was enlightening. Translating down the 'dual' column into English would read: "both of us, you and I, both of you, both of them, the two things." But if we can split the English 'we' into two things in the dual, why can't we split the English 'we' into more things in the trial? Let me illustrated with another table in *hypothetical Na'vi:
Word | Person A | Person B | Person C | English |
---|---|---|---|---|
pxoe | Me #1 | Me #2 | Me #3 | "The three of us" |
*moeng | Me #1 | Me #2 | You #1 | "The two of us and you" |
*oemenga | Me #1 | You #1 | You #2 | "You two and I" |
*moepo | Me #1 | Me #2 | Her #1 | "The two of us and her" |
*oemepo | Me #1 | Her #1 | Her #2 | "Those two and I" |
*oengpo | Me #1 | You #1 | Her #1 | "You, me and her" |
pxenga | You #1 | You #2 | You #3 | "The three of you" |
*mengapo | You #1 | You #2 | Her #1 | "You two and her" |
*ngamofo | You #1 | Her #1 | Her #2 | "The two of them and you" |
pxefo | Her #1 | Her #2 | Her #3 | "The three of them" |
Now I know this isn't as succinct, but couldn't you imagine that if a language was serious about the trial, it might do this?
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