Pronouns and possession: view article

Personal pronouns are rather complex, and some forms are thought to be almost unique to Jutean. The inanimate pronouns are gendered, the 3rd person pronoun referring to humans however doesn't make distinctions.

Person	1st	2nd	3rd	3rd (plants and animals)	3rd (inanimate - C., I., W.)*
Singular	ta	na	la	uvu	aha, ehi, ohu
Plural	fa (incl.), fanal (excl. a single person) fanafal (excl. multiple persons)	naf	laf	uvuf	ahaf, ehif, ohuf
Collective	fa (incl.) fafanal (excl. of a group)	fan	fal	uvuf, fuvu (rarely)	ahaf, ehif, ohuf (+ a af/efi/uf)

*C. = Common/civilization gender, I. = Immaterial/abstract gender, W. = Wilderness gender

Colloquially and in some dialects (e.g Sitti), "aha, ehi, ohu" might be used for both singular and plural, and "af, efi, uf" for collective and in some cases also plural.

For the indirect case, the particle he is put in front of the pronoun, for the oblique case the circumferential particle me ... ma is used.

[edit] [top]Demonstrative pronouns

They are distinguished by gender and distance (proximal, medial and distal) and don't decline.

Gender	Common	Abstact/Immaterial	Wilderness
Proximal	ja	ji	ju
Medial	jam	jim	jum
Distal	jaha	jahi	jahu

[edit] [top]Possessive pronouns and possession

Jutean has no possessive pronouns. The preposition a + noun or personal pronoun in the oblique case are used to indicate the inalienable possessor. Inalienable possession is limited to (body) parts, family members and friends, as well as thoughts, feelings, actions and experiences. Some other kinds of relationship or authorship can also be indicated with this construction.

Ova a vuhatatede 'The top of the mountain' ('Top of mountain-OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object')
Vunam a me laf ma 'Their parent(s)' ('Parent(s) of them')
Hotif a me ta ma 'My book' [a book that I wrote] ('Book of me')

For everything else, alienable possession is used, which is formed with a relative nominalization describing the situation or relationship between one or more persons and animals (when not treated as friends or family members), objects, jobs, offices, places.

Vailita a vohi a me ta ma 'Vehicle that I use'
Vehicle of use-GERGerund
verbal noun of OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object ('Vehicle of using of me')

Hotif a fuumohi a me ta ma 'Book that I read'
Book of read-GERGerund
verbal noun of OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object ('book of reading of me')

Nijauva a sehukohi a vunamede 'Cat that parent(s) care for'
Cat of care-GERGerund
verbal noun of parent-OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object ('cat of caring of parent(s)')

[edit] [top]Emphasizing (reflexive) pronouns

A rarely used additional set of pronouns that sometimes is used to emphasize a pronoun to make it clear that no one else is being addressed, similar to a stressed pronoun in English as in for example "You should calm down first.". Often referring or demanding a reflexive action (action done by the person to themselves), and hence translated as e.g. "you yourself" or "on/of your own".

They replace a regular personal pronoun rather than attaching to it as an object, and can be used even with unergative verbs where a regular reflexive voice can't be used.

Examples:
Momo nana noke, haanol? How about you chill?
IMPImperative (mood)
command-calm 2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)-EMPEmphatic
stressed or emphasised maybe | why-NEGNegative (polarity)
not

No vutani a tavuheohi a me nana ma. The problems are for you yourself to remove (=solve)
problem of remove-GERGerund
verbal noun of OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object 2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)-EMPEmphatic
stressed or emphasised OBLOblique (argument)
indirect or demoted object

Alal, Jon. No nana fesuu. No, John. You are the demon.
No | John | Be 2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)-EMPEmphatic
stressed or emphasised demon

Nono nana. Be yourself [and not someone else]
IMPImperative (mood)
command-be 2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)-EMPEmphatic
stressed or emphasised

Saihoko tata a tohide a hei. I like myself the current way (= the way I am now)
Like 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I-EMPEmphatic
stressed or emphasised

As can be seen, they are formed by reduplicating the pronoun they are replacing, or, in the case of first person exclusive pronouns, the first syllable.

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