Amerind Pronouns
| Language | Family | I | you | he |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nahuatl | Uto-Aztecan | no- | mo- | i- |
| Kiliwa | Yuman | ñap | may | ñipáa |
| Karok | (isolate) | na | 'im | 'um |
| Quechua | Quechuan | ñuqa | qam | pay |
| Aymara | Aymaran | naya | juma | jupa |
| Mapudungun | (isolate) | iñche | eymi | fey |
| Wichí | Matacoan | n’lham | am | lham |
| Yine | Maipurean | -no | pɨ- | wal'a |
| Hup | Makú | 'ãh | 'ám | tɨ́h |
| Muisca | Chibchan | hycha | mue | asy |
| Toba | Guaicuruan | ayim | 'am | -maji |
| Siona | Tucanoan | yɨ'ɨ | mɨ̃'ɨ̃ | p'ak'o |
| Chácobo | Panoan | ɨa | mi-a | ha-a |
| Tacana | Tacanan | yama | miada | toaweda |
| Selknam | Chon | y-ah | m-ah | — |
| Yanomami | Yanomaman | ya | wa | a |
The main argument for the genetic unity of most native American languages is an observed pronominal pattern in many native American languages that have first person forms with n- and second person forms with m-. This pattern was first noted by Alfredo Trombetti in 1905. This pattern was also noted by Sapir which caused him to suggest that ultimately all native American languages would turn out to be related. In a personal letter to A. L. Kroeber he wrote (Sapir 1918):
| “ | Getting down to brass tacks, how in the Hell are you going to explain general American n- 'I' except genetically? It's disturbing, I know, but (more) non-committal conservatism is only dodging, after all, isn't it? Great simplifications are in store for us. | ” |
The supposed "n/m – I/you" pattern among Native American languages has attracted attention even from those linguists who are normally critical of such proposals. Johanna Nichols has investigated the distribution of the languages that have the n/m contrast and found that they are mostly confined to the western coast of the Americas, and that similarly they exist in East Asia and Oceania. This caused her to suggest that they had spread through diffusion. This notion was rejected by Lyle Campbell who argued that in fact the n/m pattern was not statistically significant in either area compared to the rest of the world. Campbell also showed that several of the languages that had the contrast today had not had it historically and that largely the pattern was consistent with chance resemblances, especially when taking into consideration the statistic prevalence of nasal consonants in all the pronominal systems of the world.
At right is a selection of singular Amerind pronouns from various languages, each of which are from separate well-attested families.
Read more about this topic: Amerind Languages
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