HARRINGTON— TAOS PERSONAL PRONOUN 



The free or unprefixed pronouns, usually omitted, may be added 

 for emphasis or, what is of especial interest to us here, to make clear 

 the confusion of person or case resulting from defective prefixed pro- 

 nouns. When used subjectively or reflexively they usually precede 

 the verb cluster; when used objectively or referentially they fre- 

 quently follow it. Possessing distinct forms for the three persons and 

 clearly indicating case by position or postfixes, yet not distinguishing 

 number, ambiguity in person or case but not in number is avoided 

 by their use. They are needed especially to make up for the lack of 

 prefixed subjective-referential forms indicating first or second person 

 as the direct object. 



The subjective or objective forms are equally common as subject 

 or direct object. They are also used with prefixed possessives (series 

 n). The referential forms in -mki and —thati indicate any referential 

 or indirect object relation, but are never used to indicate possession, 

 and those in -thati are used with subjective-objective prefixed pro- 

 nouns and never with subjective-objective-referential pronouns as the 

 forms in -mki occasionally are. The reflexive pronouns are used with 

 the reflexive series (v). 



Examples of the various usages are : 



1. Free pronoun emphasizes, but prefixed pronoun alone is per- 

 fectly clear: amd n hua, I am going, na n ama n hua, I am going; ta n mu n , 

 I looked at myself, na n ta ta n mu n , I looked at myself. 



2. Free pronoun makes otherwise ambiguous meaning perfectly 

 clear: anma n hua, we d. are going or they d. are going, na n anma n hua, 

 we d. are going; ana n msudahuta, my dogs were killed or their d. dogs 

 were killed, na n ana n msudahuta, my dogs were killed; ma n pimu n , I or 

 we saw you pi. or you pi. saw them an. pi., d n ma n pimu n or a" ma n pi- 

 mu n a n wa n na n , you pi. saw them an. pi. (cf. under 3 below). 



3. Free pronoun corrects ambiguity of person, but ambiguity of 

 number remains: ma n pimu n , I or we saw you pi. or you pi. saw them 

 an. pi., na n ma n pimu n or na n ma n pimu n a", I or we saw you pi. (cf. 

 under 2 above) ; ma n pdna n mkahu, I or we killed you d. mother(s) or 

 you s. or d. killed his, her, or their d. mother(s), na n ma n pdna n mkahu. 

 I or we killed your d. mother (s), d n ma n pdna n mkahti, you s. or d. 

 killed his, her, or their d. mother(s). 



4. Free pronoun expresses combination which cannot be ex- 

 pressed by prefixed pronoun alone, but ambiguity in number usually 

 remains: tisudama n , I brought a dog, tisudama" na n mki, I brought a 

 dog for myself; ma n pdnhu, I or we killed you d. or you d. killed them 

 d., na n mapdnhu a n wa n na n mki, I or we killed you d. for him or them; 

 ma n msudahu, you s., d., or pi. killed my or our dog(s) or you s., d., 



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