[Lingtyp] uses of first plural exclusive pronouns

Tue Jun 23 14:26:45 UTC 2015

dear Zach, dear Kilu,

Two general references about that sort of pronominal syncretism would be:

   - Baerman, Matthew, Dunstan Brown, and Greville G. Corbett.
* The syntax-morphology interface: A study of syncretism*. Vol. 109.
   Cambridge University Press, 2005.
   - Cysouw, Michael (2005). Syncretisms involving clusivity. In Elena
   Filimonova (ed.), *Clusivity: Typology and case studies of the
   inclusive–exclusive distinction, *73–111. New York: Benjamins.

The pattern Kilu mentioned cannot be found in northern Vanuatu languages;
 but I came across it as I did fieldwork in the Solomons.  Indeed, the 3
languages spoken on Vanikoro (Oceanic, Temotu) show a regular pattern in
their subject-indexing prefixes  (S/A):

   - *1exc:du *is collapsed with *2du*, and *1exc:pl *with *2pl*
   - *1inc:du *is collapsed with *3du*, and *1inc:pl* with *3pl*

The facts themselves are briefly mentioned in a paper

François, Alexandre. 2009. The languages of Vanikoro: Three lexicons and
one grammar. In Bethwyn Evans (ed). *Discovering history through language:
Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross*. Pacific Linguistics 605. Canberra:
Australian National University. Pp.103-126.  [online
<https://www.academia.edu/848677/The_languages_of_Vanikoro_Three_lexicons_and_one_grammar>
]

As for the interpretation, it was the object of a conference presentation:

François, Alexandre. 2014. Person syncretism and impersonal reference in
Vanikoro languages. Paper read at 6th ed. of *Syntax of the World's
Languages* (SWL6), Universitá di Pavia, Sept 2014.  [online
<https://www.academia.edu/8349394/Person_syncretism_and_impersonal_reference_in_Vanikoro_languages>
]

In that talk, I proposed two terms to label the language-specific
categories defined by these mergers:

   - "dislocutive"  {1exc, 2}:  a group in which Speaker and Addressee
   behave differently
   - "collocutive"  {1inc, 3}:   a group in which Speaker and Addressee
   behave identically

Considered separately, each of these two patterns of syncretism is also
attested in a few other languages in the world;
but I haven't found any other language that combines the two syncretisms in
such a neat and regular system as on Vanikoro.

best,
Alex
_________
Alex François
LACITO-CNRS <http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm>, France
Australian National University
<https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/francois-a>, Canberra
Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.free.fr>
__________________

2015-06-23

"Sandra Auderset" <sandrauderset at gmail.com>
:

>
> Dear Kilu,
>

> This is also found elsewhere in the world, although in agreement forms and
> not in pronouns:
> - in Banjal (Central Atlantic; Senegal): 1PL.EXCL = 2PL (agreement with
> S/A)
> - in Udihe (Tungusic, Russia): 1PL.EXCL = 2PL (agreement with S/A)
>

> However, there is at least one language that collapses first person
> inclusive with second person in agreement (might helpful for theoretical
> considerations):
> - Cubeo (Tucanoan; Colombia):   1PL.INCL = 2 (agreement with S/A;
> concernces only one of several sets of forms)
>
> Best,
> Sandra

2015-06-23 14:38 GMT+02:00 Bill Palmer <bill.palmer at newcastle.edu.au>:

> Dear Kilu
>
>
>
> I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this in a few Meso-Melanesian languages, though
> I can’t bring to mind off hand which ones. I’ll try to have a look and post
> again. It’s hard to say why this happens, but I suspect that they are
> collapsing into a non-3rd person category. I suspect that 1incl is not
> involved because that category is a little more complex than simply a group
> of individuals including one or other of the SAPs.
>
>
>
> best
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> *From:* Lingtyp [mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Kilu von Prince
> *Sent:* Tuesday, 23 June 2015 10:26 PM
> *To:* Zachary O'Hagan
> *Cc:* lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Lingtyp] uses of first plural exclusive pronouns
>
>
>
> Dear Zach, and dear colleagues,
>
>
>
> I'm not aware of the exact phenomenon you're looking for, but I'd like to
> piggyback on your question, because I have an observation that I find much
> weirder and have so far not been able to make any sense of:
>
>
>
> In Dalkalaen (Oceanic, spoken in Vanuatu), the first person exclusive
> pronouns for paucal and plural number are being collapsed with the
> corresponding second person pronouns. Are there other languages with this
> property? Does anyone have a theory as to why this might happen?
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Kilu
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 1:34 PM, Zachary O'Hagan <zohagan at berkeley.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
>
>
> It is known that first plural inclusive pronouns can be used for polite
> first- or second-person reference in some languages.  I am searching for
> instances in any language in which a first plural *exclusive* pronoun can
> be used for polite *third*-person reference, or for instances in which a
> third-person pronoun can be shown to originate historically in a first
> plural exclusive pronoun.  Possible references are much appreciated.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> -Zach O'Hagan
>
>
>
> --
>
> Zachary O'Hagan
> Graduate Student
> Department of Linguistics
> University of California, Berkeley
>
>
>
>
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