we
Keywords: core, determiners, articles, nouns, pronouns
| Pronunciation (IPA): | we |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | determiner |
| Class: | article pronoun |
| Forms: | we, je, ije, wen, wer, jer, ijer, wenar, wez, jez, ijez, wenaz |
| Glosses: | I, me, we, us |
Description:
The article 'we' is the first person article and pronoun in Common. It acts like any other Common determiner in that it can take a head term, and if the head term is ommitted by modifiers, modifying terms or modifying expressions are used, a dummy head term 'yn' is mandatory. Head terms used with we are most often personal names, titles or honourifics.
| Case/Number: | Singular | Pron. | Paucal (Exclusive) | Pron. | Plural (Inclusive) | Pron. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | we | we | wer | wer | wez | weθ |
| Ergative | je | je | jer | jer | jez | jeθ |
| Dative | ije | 'i.je | ijer | 'i.jer | ijez | 'i.jeθ |
| Nominative | wen | wen | wenar | 'we.nar | wenaz | 'we.naθ |
The nominative singular is used in one of the common idioms of self-introduction, 'Wen Toni' is one way of saying 'I am Tony', for example.
One special feature of number in the first person, is that the paucal number is used for exclusive (not including the addressee) and the plural is used for the inclusive (including the addressee). These forms are equivalent to the English 'we' and 'us' , but the sense of whether the person addressed is included is generally always carried and contrasts with English. However, the normal sense of the paucal (a few of something, or something that can be precisely counted) versus the plural (many of something, or something that is too numerous to conveniently count) is still operative and can create ambiguity as to which sense is meant when a number is used.. Such ambiguity has to be worked out via context or extra phrasing to clarify if needed.