Morphologically e:yu ‘water’ and pa:lu ‘milk’
etc., are unmarked for number and concord is with the third singular form of
the verb syntactically. |
Morphologically, manjih
rice’ is marked for number and syntactically concord is with the third
plural form of the verb. |
4.3
|
Pronouns
|
|
Pronouns constitute a closed class of nouns which are substituted for nouns.
Like nouns, pronouns are distinguished for number and gender and are
inflected for case. |
|
|
Pronouns may be
divided into
|
|
|
(1) Personal pronouns
|
|
(2) Demonstrative pronouns |
|
(3) Interrogative
pronouns
|
|
(4) Reflexive pronouns |
4.3.1 |
Personal pronouns |
4.3.1.1
|
Personal pronouns in Kuvi have three
persons. These are first person referring to the speaker/ speakers; second
person referring to the person/persons spoken to; third person referring to
person/persons spoken about.
|
4.3.1.2
|
Gender distinction in the pronouns
is confined to the third person. As in the nouns there is a two way gender
distinction of masculine and non-masculine, with masculine referring to the
human male and non-masculine to the human female, animate and inanimate
beings and deities.
|
4.3.1.3
|
All three persons show a number distinction of
singular and plural. The first person plural is again divided into inclusive
and exclusive which includes or excludes the listener respectively. The
third person non-masculine plural shows a distinction of human and neuter
respectively.
|
4.3.1.4
|
The person are given below.
|
| Person |
Singular |
Plural |
| I |
na:nu ‘I’ |
ma:ro ‘we’ (incl.) |
|
|
ma:mbu ‘we’ (excl.) |
| II |
ni:nu ‘you’ |
mi:ru ‘you’ (plu.& hon.) |
| III |
evasi ‘he’(masc.)’ |
evari ‘they’ (masc.) |
|
edi ‘she’it’ |
evasika ‘they’ |
|
|
(hum. non-masc.) |
|
|
|
evi ‘those’ |
|
|
(non-hnm., non-masc.) |
|
4.3.1.4.1
|
The pronominal suffixes of the finite verb show the person-number and gender
of the subject even if it is not overtly expressed (of.4.1.2).
|
| The suffixes are |
| Person |
Singular |
Plural |
| I |
-?ĩ
~ -ni; |
-?ĩ~-eni;
-ayi ;’(incl.)’ |
|
-?ó~
-oni |
-omi ‘(excl.)’ |
| II |
-i |
-eri |
| III |
-esi (masc.) |
-eri (mac.) |
|
-e (non.masc.)
|
-u (non.masc.)
|
|
