Inclusive and exclusive we
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Inclusive we is a pronoun or verb conjugation that indicates the inclusion of the speaker, the addressee, and perhaps other people, as opposed to exclusive we, which specifically excludes the addressee. No European language makes this distinction; as in English, there is but one pronoun for the speaker plus other people, regardless of whether 'you' is included.
Schematic paradigm
Inclusive-exclusive paradigms may be summarized as a two-by-two grid:
| Includes you? | |||
| Yes | No | ||
| Includes me? | Yes | Inclusive | Exclusive |
| No | 2nd person | 3rd person | |
Where found
The inclusive-exclusive distinction is nearly universal among the Austronesian languages and the languages of northern Australia, but rare in the Papuan languages in between. (Tok Pisin, an English-Melanesian pidgin, generally has the inclusive-exclusive distinction, but this varies with the speaker's language background.) It is widespread among the Dravidian languages, the Munda languages, and the languages of eastern Siberia, such as Evenki, though it has been lost from some. In America it is found in about half the languages, with no clear geographic or genealogical pattern. It is also found in a few languages of the Caucasus and Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Laal, and in at least one Indo-European language, Marathi.Austronesian languages
In Malay and Indonesian, the pronoun kita is inclusive, and kami is exclusive. That is, you may say "We (kami) will go shopping, and then we (kita) will eat," making it clear that your guest is not to accompany you to the market, but is invited to dinner. What you cannot do is be ambiguous as to whether your guest is included, as you can in English.Tagalog has a very similar system with kamí and táyo being respectively the exclusive and inclusive forms. The word kitá (or katá) was originally a dual inclusive pronoun "you and I". However, it has now become a portmanteau pronoun for first plus second person, as in mahál kitá "I love you", originally "you and I are dear."
In other Philippine languages, particularly those spoken in northern Luzon, the use of the dual pronoun is widely used. Kapampangan, for example, has ikata (dual inclusive), ikatamu (plural inclusive), and ikami (exclusive). Ilokano has data/sita, datayo/sitayo, and dakami/sikami.
Tausug of Sulu is the only Visayan language which has the dual form. Its pronouns are kita (dual inclusive), kitaniyu (plural inclusive), and kami (exclusive).
Chinese languages
In standard Mandarin, the pronoun wǒmen 我們 "we", which is the plural of the pronoun wǒ 我 "I", is indefinite like its English counterpart. However, in northern Mandarin dialects there is an additional pronoun, zámen 咱們, which is inclusive. In these dialects, wǒmen 我們 is exclusive.Taiwanese is similar. Exclusive goán is the plural of goá "I", while inclusive lán is a separate root also with the plural suffix. Lán may be used to express politeness or solidarity, as in asking a stranger "where do we live?" to mean "where do you live?".
Viet-Muong language
Vietnamese makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we. Among the many Vietnamese pronouns there are chúng ta (inclusive) and chúng tôi (exclusive). "Chúng" is a plural marker derived from Chinese.Pidgins
The Chinese pattern, with the plural form of "I" as the exclusive pronoun, is a common one. It is also common for the inclusive pronoun to be composed of the pronouns for "I" and "you". Both are the case in the English-Melanesian-based creole languages Tok Pisin and Bislama, where the inclusive pronoun is a variant of yumi (two people, that is, you + me) or yumipla (for more than two people; -pla or -pela is a plural suffix), and the exclusive pronoun is the plural of "me": mipla.American languages
In Quechua, both forms, inclusive ñuqanchik and exclusive ñuqayku, are clearly based on the first-person singular pronoun ñuqa, but it is not immediately clear how they relate historically to the second-person pronoun qan or the plural suffix -kuna.Aymara has four pronominal roots: Inclusive jiwasa, exclusive naya, second person juma, and third person jupa. All are indefinite as to number apart from jiwasa, which must refer to at least two people. Plurality may be emphasized with the suffix -naka; inclusive jiwasanaka implies at least three people. Verbal conjugations reflect the same four persons.
Another Amerindian language that makes the distinction is Guaraní, with singular che, exclusive ore, and an inclusive ñande that is likely formed from nde 'thou'.
Additionally, all Algonquian languages make a distinction between first person plural inclusive and exclusive. For example, in Shawnee, the first person plural exclusive independent pronoun is niilawe, the corresponding inclusive pronoun is kiilawe, while the first person singular pronoun is niila and the second person singular pronoun is kiila. The inclusive/exclusive distinction is also made throughout the pronominal inflection of verbs in all Algonquian languages.
Dravidian languages
The distinction between the inclusive and exclusive we existed in proto-Dravidian, and has been retained in most modern Dravidian languages. In Tamil, the forms are inclusive நாம் (nām) and exclusive நாங்கள் (nāṅkaḷ). In Telugu, the forms are inclusive మనము (manamu) and exclusive మేము (memu). In Malayalam, നമ്മള് (nammaḷ)is the inclusive form of we while ഞങ്ങള് (ñaṅṅaḷ) is exclusive. Modern Kannada is the only one of the literary Dravidian languages that does not retain the distinction.Distinction in verbs
Where verbs are inflected for person, as in Australia and much of America, the inclusive-exclusive distinction is made there as well. For example, in Passamaquoddy "I/we have it" is expressed- Singular n-tíhin (first person prefix n-)
- Exclusive n-tíhin-èn (first person n- + plural suffix -èn)
- Inclusive k-tíhin-èn (inclusive prefix k- + plural -èn)
Singular we
There is an interesting twist with inclusive pronouns in Samoan. In this language, as in the related languages Malay and Tagalog, there are two separate roots for "we", inclusive ’ita and exclusive ’ima. Unlike in those languages, the Samoan pronouns must be used with the dual suffix -’ua or the plural suffix -tou to mean "we".
| Samoan pronouns | singular | dual | plural |
| Exclusive person | a’u | ’ima’ua | ’imatou |
| Inclusive person | ’ita | ’ita’ua | ’itatou |
| Second person | ’oe | ’oulua | ’outou |
| Third person | ia | ’ila’ua | ’ilatou |
However, the inclusive pronoun ’ita may also occur on its own as a singular pronoun. In this case it means "I", but with a connotation of appealing or asking for indulgence, rather like the concept of amae in Japanese. That is, by using ’ita instead of the normal word for "I", a’u, you are involving the other person in statements about yourself.
Reference
- Thomas E Payne, 1997. Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58224-5
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