Personal Pronouns
| Singular Pronouns | Pijin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Person | mi | me |
| 2nd Person | lu | you |
| 3rd Person | hem | him/her/it |
| Dual | Trial | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Person Inclusive | lumitufala | iumitrifala | iumifala, iumi |
| 1st Person Exclusive | mitufala | mitrifala | mifala |
| 2nd Person | iutufala | iutrifala | iufala |
| 3rd Person | tufala | trifala | ol, olketa |
Pijin, like other languages to which it is related, involves a distinction between singular, dual, trial, and plural pronouns. Dual forms refer to two people or things, trial forms refer to three, and plural forms refer to three or more. These pronoun forms are not present in English, but are common in many other South Pacific languages.
Clusivity:
Pijin pronouns also use different forms to distinguish between inclusive and exclusive pronouns. The inclusive and exclusive features are only realized in the first person dual, trial, and plural pronoun forms. For example, the first person dual inclusive pronoun, lumitufala, means ‘we’ (you and me, including the listener), whereas the first person dual exclusive pronoun, mitufala, means ‘we’ (him/her and me, excluding the listener). This dual inclusive pronoun is used quite frequently in the Solomon Islands. It is most often used in religious sermons when the speaker is referring to a relationship between himself/herself and a specific individual in the audience.
Read more about this topic: Pijin Language
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or pronouns:
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nevertheless, the radio broke,
And twelve o’clock arrived just once too often,”
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“In the meantime no sense in bickering about pronouns and other parts of blather.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)