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Here is a definition of 'indeclinable' from the wiktionary:<br>
<br>
<big><font size="-1"><big>"not grammatically inflected, especially if
others of its class are usually inflected"</big></font><br>
</big><br>
I think you would usually describe a personal pronoun as indeclinable
if the rest of the pronouns in a language had different forms for
different grammatical functions but one pronoun didn't. In English
*you* (nominative), *you* (accusative), *your* (genitive) and *it*
(nominative), *it* (accusative), its (genitive) come close but they
each have a different form for the genitive function. So you can't call
them indeclinable. But if *you* and *it* did not have the genitive form
then you would call them indeclinable in contrast to the other English
personal pronouns which all do decline, i.e. have a different form
depending on their grammatical function.<br>
<br>
Amele (Papuan) has personal pronouns, e.g. *uqa* '3sg', *ija* '1sg',
*hina* '2sg', which do not have different forms for the nominative,
accusative and genitive functions. But it would be a bit odd to call
them indeclinable pronouns because none of the pronouns in Amele are
grammatically inflected.<br>
<br>
John Roberts<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
David Frank wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:102a01c8e78e$6c270d10$9a0b16ac@Waxhaw.Jaars.Org"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I will throw in my two cents worth, which is another way of saying what David Tuggy has already said.
Some languages like English have different forms of the pronouns, based on whether it is a subject (I) or object (me), or used as a possessive pronoun (my). There are sometimes other forms, too, like the reflexive (myself). These are the different declensions of the pronoun. Other languages don't have different forms of the pronouns for these different purposes. Then you would say that the pronouns are not declined.
For example, in St. Lucian Creole, there is only one form of the first person pronoun, regardless of whether it is used as a subject, an object or a possessive. Here are some examples:
Mwen vini. "I came."
David bat mwen. "David hit me."
Manman mwen malad. "My mother is sick."
So you could call the St. Lucian Creole word 'mwen' an indeclinable personal pronoun. However, we wouldn't have bothered calling it that, because in St. Lucian Creole, basically nothing is declined, so there is no expectation that the pronouns should be declined. However, if you are comparing St. Lucian (French) Creole with English or with standard French, then you might point out that in St. Lucian Creole the pronouns are not declined (for the most part).
I understand that Old English had different declensions for all nouns, depending on how they were used in a sentence, but over time that case system for nouns was lost, and it only survives on the pronouns in modern English.
-- David Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: "phil cash cash" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:pasxapu@DAKOTACOM.NET"><pasxapu@DAKOTACOM.NET></a>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com"><lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com></a>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] indeclinable def.
David, yes, I think it is beginning to makes sense. So I imagine
(from a strictly Eng perspective) that one can make use of an
indeclinable form when someone says things like "Me, myself, and I
left town" where "Me, myself and I" taken together is an indeclinable-
like expression. If so, then I am thinking something like "I myself"
is an independent indeclinable ponoun in the languages I'm familiar
with (though Eng uses the two words here).
Phil
On Jul 16, 2008, at 12:56 PM, David Tuggy wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Presumably one would use the term only in a language where nouns
and other nominal entities (like pronouns) are usually declined
(i.e. have different "case" forms according to their grammatical
function.) Personal pronouns would be either pronouns referring to
human beings (persons) or to "grammatical person", i.e. 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd person pronouns. In English the 1st person singular pronoun
can be described as a declinable form (though in English we don't
do declensions as a rule) since it can be I, me, or my according to
its grammatical function. If the 2nd person singular pronoun didn't
have a special possessive form (your), it would be an indeclinable
personal pronoun, since it appears as you in all (other) syntactic
contexts.
Does that make sense?
--David T
phil cash cash wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Greetings, I need to find a basic but informative definition for a
grammatical category: indeclinable personal pronoun. Any
suggestions appreciated, Phil
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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