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Re: Lethino Pronouns



--- In romconlang@yahoogroups.com, Eric Christopherson <rakko@...> 
wrote:
>
> On Mar 11, 2007, at 5:57 PM, jsjonesmiami wrote:
> 
> > Hi!
> > I'm working on a new language, currently called Lethino, which  
> > branches off fairly early. One problem I have is that, because
> > s > x, which > 0 when word final, the 3rd person plural object
> > pronouns become identical to the corresponding singular pronouns.
> > Any ideas?
> 
> I have a few ideas: You could let them merge, and have only
> context disambiguate them. Or you could borrow from other cases,
> such as the nominative (although I don't know which cases you are
> using). Or you could use a content word like "men" or "persons" (or
> even <gens> "people") and have it evolve into a 3rd-person plural
> pronoun.

Thanks.
I don't particularly like merger. I think Italian borrows from the 
nominative, but I'd rather avoid that. The cases for pronouns are 
subject (stressed), object of preposition (stressed), direct object 
(unstressed), indirect object (unstressed), and what I 
call "sociative", which comes from the -cum forms. I haven't decided 
if it will use a genitive case or possessive pronouns.
I'm planning to use "man" as a generic person, but I like your idea 
of <gens> too. I don't think they'll work for the unstressed 
pronouns, though.