inclusive/exclusive

Rankin, Robert L rankin at ku.edu
Sun Dec 11 15:45:31 UTC 2005


Although I think Siouan languages once had a real inclusive/exclusive distinction (uN- 'inclusive'; nuN- 'exclusive'), the Mississippi Valley languages, nowadays at least, seem to have dual/plural, with dual including the person addressed, i.e., you&me. So uN(k)-VERB is 'inclusive' and uN(k)-VERB-api is 'we (more than just you and I)'.  So if I understand it correctly there is indeed a 'dual-inclusive' in MVS but there is no corresponding 'exclusive', just a generalized 'plural'.  And the plural, as far as I know, does not necessarily exclude the person addressed.
 
The original inclusive/exclusive distinction may be preserved in other subgroups of Siouan.  I think Randy has found some evidence for it in Crow and there is evidence in Tutelo in a "hapax legomenon" form.  Mandan retains ruN- as its general 'we' prefix.  Catawba retains nuN- as an object, 'us', and the original inclusive/exclusive distinction is intact in Yuchi, oN- 'inclusive' and noN- 'exclusive'.  
 
I really have no idea what Dakotan speakers do with the disjunctive pronoun uNkiye as far as this distinction goes.  Are there distinct forms uNkiye/uNkiyepi??  Or are the separable pronouns simply outside the system?
 
Bob

________________________________

From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of shokooh Ingham
Sent: Sat 12/10/2005 3:40 PM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject: inclusive/exclusive



I have just discovered, after studying Lakota for
about twelve years that I have been using the terms
exclusive and inclusive wrongly.  I always thought
that 'exclusive we'  uNkiye meant that the 3rd person
was excluded and 'inclusive we' uNkiyepi meant that
the 3rd person could be included.  If it is the other
way around, does it make sense? If uNkiyepi is
exclusive, what is it excluding?  It does not exclude
2nd person, because uNkiyepi could mean 'I, you and a
third party'.  Possibly there is some other rational
for this use of the terminology.  Does anyone know
what it is? It seems to make more sense in Cree where
nimiicinaan (exclusive we eat) means 'I and others
excluding you', whereas kimiicinaw (inclusive we eat)
means 'I and possibly others including you'.  I also
note that the term dual can be used for the uNkiye in
Lakota meaning 'you and I'.  Does anyone know whether
it can mean 'more than one of you plus I', in which
case it would not really be a dual.
We live and learn
Bruce


       
       
               
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