15 - Tibeto-Burman pronouns

Summary

The 1st person and 2nd person independent personal pronouns are *ŋa ‘I’ and *naŋ ‘thou’:

(406) T ŋa, Kiranti aŋ (Rai, Rungchengbung) ∼ aŋ-ka (Waling) ∼ ka-ŋa (Rodong)∼∂ŋa (Limbu), Nung ŋa, B ŋa, G aŋ ‘I’, with which must be grouped *ŋay ‘I; self’, and perhaps Dhimal ka, L (and general Kuki) ka ‘I’.

(407) Thami, Magari, Chepang naŋ, K naŋ∼na, B naŋ ‘thou’, G na?a ‘thou’, naŋ-ni ‘thy’ (cf. B ńàń<*nyìŋ ‘thou [female to female]’), L naŋ, also Dhimal and Nung na ‘thou’.

Subordination is effected simply through anteposition or prefixation to the noun, often in abbreviated form, e.g. K naŋ∼na ‘thou’, nwa (n-wa) ‘thy father’. Pronominal inflection, clearly of secondary origin, is encountered in the Himalayish group and occasionally elsewhere; cf. B ŋa ‘I’, ŋá ‘mine’; naŋ ‘thou’, náŋ ‘thine’ (see above); Dhimal ka ‘I’, na ‘thou’; kaŋ ‘my’, naŋ ‘thy’; kyel ‘we’, nyel ‘you’; kiŋ ‘our’, niŋ ‘your’. Various types of refinements, none of which can be regarded as inherited TB features, appear in random distribution. These include the distinction between exclusive and inclusive forms of the 1st person pronoun (notably in Himalayish, also in Tibetan and Mikir), the dual (Kanauri, Tibetan, Kachin), and distinctions in sex of speaker (notably in Burmese). The concept of plurality is generally expressed through suffixation (as for nouns).