Kah has several sets of pronouns that can function as an subject or object of oblique utterance in a nominal way. Besides the set of personal pronouns, there is an impersonal pronoun, reciprocity is expressed by a pronoun, there is a set of reflexive pronouns, as well as deictic and interrogative pronouns:
There are eight personal pronouns in Kah. As you can see, the plural forms are simply a combination of the singular forms with the collective marker -nyo:
Singular | Plural | ||
wa | I | wanyo | we |
li | you | linyo | you |
yu | he/she | yunyo | they |
ya | it | yanyo | they |
The difference between yu and ya is a matter of animacy. Animate objects are referred to with yu and inanimate objects with ya. All living beings such as human beings and animals, plants and all organic life in general are referred to with yu, and anything else with ya.
There is no gender marking in pronouns. Yu can either mean "he" or "she". When it is absolutely necessary to express gender, the pronoun must be swapped for a common noun or noun phrase such as ubu the man or wana the woman.
The pronoun al expresses the subject in impersonal utterances like:
al minza sunda
IMP steal bike
They stole my bike
al nong tengi yun kochi jesa kaiko
IMP not can look cover judge book
You can't judge a book by it's cover
To understand the difference between an personal "they" and an impersonal one, compare:
yunyo ka en rupunto la bandola
they say that riot be at town
They (i.e. a specified group of people) say there are riots in the center
al ka en rupunto la bandola
imp say that riot be at town
They (i.e. rumours) say there are riots in the center
Reciprocal pronouns express a relation between the complements of a verbal clause which is expressed by means of the word "each other" in English. In Kah, this relation is expressed by the pronoun noyom:
meo ai bau janja nong nenju noyom
cat and dog usually not like recip
Cats and dogs don't like each other
uyu maika noyom
person greet recip
The people greeted one another
In order to form reflexive pronouns, the focus marker lo is added to the basic personal pronouns:
SINGULAR | PLURAL | ||
walo | myself | walonyo | ourselves |
lilo | yourself | lilonyo | yourselves |
yulo | him/herself | yulonyo | themselves |
yalo | itself | yalonyo | themselves |
Examples of the use of these pronouns show the function closely resembles ordinary reflexive pronouns in English:
shim walonyo
wash self:1pl
we washed ourselves
yun yulo la shefan
look self:3sg LOC mirror
she looked at herself in the mirror
yun lilo!
look self:2sg
look at yourself!
They also function as logophoric pronouns which mark the subject of a dependent clause as identical to the subject of the main clause. Please note the difference between:
Susan je yu jam susan think she do Susan thinks she'll do it ("she" referring to someone else) uba zenka yu fon wa father warn he punish me father warned me he'll punish me ("he" referring to someone else) | Susan je yulo jam susan think herself do Susan thinks she'll do it ("she" referring to Susan herself) uba zenka yulo fon wa Father warn himself punish me father warned me he'll punish me ("he" referring to father himself) |
Deictic marking in Kah has two gradations, one expressing objects close to the speaker, and one for objects further away:
wau - this, these
ye - that, those
These words are put after the nouns they modify:
nia wau - this car
yudo ye - that house
There is no marking of number when referring to plural objects:
nia jom wau - these five cars
wonyo wau - this group
ukwan ye - those students / that student
Their unbound nominal forms are:
awau - this (inanimate) awau kope - this is a pen
uwau - this (animate) uwau uma - this is my mother
aye - that (inanimate) aye nia - that is a car
uye - that (animate) uye bau - that is a dog
Interrogative pronouns have in common they all start with ha-. The complete list of interrogative pronouns is:
haya - what?
hayu - who?
hala - where?
hana - which?
hashi - how?
hasa - what kind of?
hata - when?
hamun - why?
hano - where to?
hachu - where from?
hawi - how much/many?
Examples of the use of each of these pronouns are:
haya jam?
what do
What did you do?
hayu weyun?
who see
Whom did you see?
hala ya?
where it?
Where is it?
hana san nenju?
which color like
Which color do you like?
hashi jo?
how know
How did you know that?
hasa nia aye?
what kind car that?
What kind of car is that?
hata de?
when come
When will they come?
hamun nong haka?
why not ask?
Why didn't you ask?
hano denu?
Where go?
Where are you going?
hachu umukwan?
where from teacher
Where does the teacher come from?
hawi tengi kiza?
how much can eat
how much can you eat?
Note how the adjectival forms hana and hasa tend to precede the noun they modify rather than to occur in the position following their head like modifiers usually do. This is due to topicalization again. This is very common for all question words. These rarely are marked by the topic marker be. Again, context is everything:
Hayu be weyun? who top see? Whom did you see?
| Hayu weyun? who see? Whom did you see? (Or: "Who saw it?") |