Saturday, March 21, 2015

Ćwarmin: Personal Pronouns - an obsolete draft

I figure I might as well share this - Ćwarmin pronouns, in an already obsolete version. In this, you may see some clear traces from Ćwarmin nominal morphology. I am somewhat unhappy with how little connection there is between the pronouns and the verb forms (although some does exist), although such is not necessary for realism or anything.

Having pronouns distinguish between 'specific' and 'definite' referents is a slightly misleading terminology here - third person pronouns in Ćwarmin are basically demonstratives, and the difference between i/u and ək/ak is more one of this/that, than the difference between a specific or a definite noun is. Historically, however, they originate in a system where they basically corresponded to the same difference as the noun system exhibits - thus this particular distinction will be carried over into the non-obsolete version.

One further thing I want to add that is still missing in the table below is using indefinite morphology with pronouns as the default forms, while specific and definite morphology serve to emphasize the pronoun. With second person plural and dual, however, specific is exclusive and definite inclusive, while the indefinite morphology is indistinct with regards to that.

I also might want to add some more almost-case or such to it, a case distinction only present in pronouns - and not even on all pronouns.

I am not all that happy with the table of forms below, and will need to work a bit on getting them prettier. The rest of this post is essentially the draft as it was until I basically decided to remake it all from the ground up - something like half of the forms might remain in the next version.

Ćwarmin personal pronouns have a morphophonological behavior that is slightly unusual. Whenever they do not take primary stress, their vowel changes to agree with the word to the left (except over clause boundaries). To the right of a clause boundary, or at the onset of an utterance, they agree with the word to the right.

Pronouns have primary forms with regards to vowel harmony, i.e. in isolation or when having primary stress they will tend to be in one of the forms rather than the other. I have bolded the primary form. The distribution of the primary forms seems to have been slightly randomized so as to increase difference between the forms.

IsgIIsgIIIdefIIIspecIpcIIpcIIIdefpcIIIspecpcIplIIplIIIpl
nomsan | śənbec | baci | uək | akdal|delran|rəntawok|tejəkmewok|mejəkIplIIplrammal|rimməl
accataś | ətəśbacaś | becəś | uśtəś | taśdaljaś| dəljeśranaś reneśwaś | djeśwoś|jəśIplIIplIIIpl
dist.poss. subjatak / ətəkbacak | becək inin |unun teś | tośdalun | dəlinranun renintawun | tejintawun | tejinIplIIplIIIpl
genanak / ənekbahak | behəkite | utateś | tośdaltu | dəltiranu | renitawun | tejintawun | tejinIplIIplIIIpl
dativearanś / ərənśbacanś | bəcənśtən | tantən | tandonś | dənśrənś | ronśwokś | jikśwokś | jikśIplIIplIIIpl
gen.ablxaraś / źerəśbraś | brəś tər | tartər | tardoroś (no front form!)ronoś no front form!) woś | weśwoś | weśIplIIplIIIpl
instrumentalźerep / xarapbarap | berəptrap | trəptrap | trəpdaŕap |dəŕepranap | rənəptawap | tejəptawap | tejəpIplIIplIIIpl
com-toxarkuś / źerkiśbackuś | beckiśtətiś | totuśtətiś | totuśdalmaku dəlməkirammaku  remməkitawaku | tejəkitawaku | tejəki
com-withsantuc / senticbatuc | becictətic | totuctətic | totucdalmac | dəlmecrammac | rəmməctawac | tejəctawac | tejəc
negativeźiris / zurusbicis | bucustistə |  tustotistə |  tustodaltus | dəltisronuś | rəniśteniś | tonuśteniś | tonuś

With exception of IIIspec, we notice how the personal pronouns lack a reciprocally possessed form; such a form can appear in some fossilized sayings, however. The dist.poss. subj, however, is the opposite of such a case - a subject that acts upon something it possesses.

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