a
Keywords: core, determiners, articles, nouns, pronouns
| Pronunciation (IPA): | a |
|---|---|
| Part of Speech: | determiner |
| Class: | article, pronoun |
| Forms: | a, ja, ija, na, ar, jar, ijar, nar, az, jaz, ijaz, naz, y, jy, ijy, ny, yr, jyr, ijyr, nyr, yz, jyz, ijyz, nyz |
| Glosses: | he, she, it, him, her, they, them, the, a, some, a few, a lot of, many |
Description:
The third person has two forms, a definite and and indefinite form. The base form for the whole declension is considered to be the definite base form 'a'. The indefinite base form is 'y'. This definite/indefinite distinction is similar to that of English and other Western European languages as it is an innovation from the language's early speakers that arose from the collapse of the language's original concrete/abstract gender system. The definite formerly agreed with the concrete gender and the indefinite formerly agreed with the abstract gender.
The article 'a' can be used as a pronoun meaning he, she, it, him, her, they or them. When used in this fashion, no head term is required. However, as with all other determiners, if a modifier, modifier expression or modifying term is used with the pronoun, a dummy head term 'yn' is mandatory. Otherwise, it is usually read ad 'the', 'a', 'some', 'a few', 'a lot of' or 'many' depending on the form.
| Case/Number: | Singular | Pron. | Paucal | Pron. | Plural | Pron. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | a | a | ar | ar | az | aθ |
| Ergative | ja | ja | jar | jar | jaz | jaθ |
| Dative | ija | 'i.ja | ijar | 'i.jar | ijaz | 'i.jaθ |
| Nominative | na | na | nar | nar | naz | naθ |
| Case/Number: | Singular | Pron. | Paucal | Pron. | Plural | Pron. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | y | ə | yr | ət | yz | əθ |
| Ergative | jy | jə | jyr | jər | jyz | jəθ |
| Dative | ijy | 'i.jə | ijyr | 'i.jər | ijyz | 'i.jəθ |
| Nominative | ny | nə | nyr | nər | nyz | nəθ |
Refer to the attached topic on nouns and pronouns for more discussion on the use of grammatical number in Common.
Basically, the use of the paucal is read as 'a few', 'a little' or 'some'. When used with a countable noun, it has the 'a few' reading, when used with a mass noun it has the 'some' reading. When you partition something, the paucal is generally employed. A key point is that if you count anything exactly in the phrase, you must use the paucal.
The plural is read as 'many', 'a lot of', etc. and is used to refer to things that are too numeroous to conveneiently count. It can be used with a number, but in that case, the expression is usually interpreted as all of something rather than a part, and the number as an estimate.
There are ways to manage these expectations periphrastically as well, as in English, but speakers often use the article that expresses closest to the meaning they desire and don't further clarify if they think it is clear form context what they mean.