7 a. L-osa-bo ly-kabojan
ninro. he-go-CONT his-planting.ground to
‘He
i
is going to his
i
planting ground.’ b. L-osa-bo
li kabojan ninro.
he-go-CONT his planting.ground
to ‘He
i
is going to his
j
planting ground.’ The following are some examples illustrating the various forms of the personal pronouns:
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8 by-simaka-i
you-call-him ‘you called him’
li simaka-o he call-us
‘he called us’ ly-simaka bo
he-call you ‘he called you’
tho simaka-i she call-him
‘she called him’ thy-simaka je
she-call them ‘she called them’
we simaka no we call her
‘we called her’ wa-simaka dei
we-call him ‘we called him’
hi simaka we you.pl call us
‘y’all called us’ na-simaka-o
they-call-us ‘they called us’
kawa-ka-n absent-PERF-she
‘she is gone’ thy-diako
ither-on ‘on ither’
ne koboroko them among
‘among them’
2.3.1.2 Gender, Number, and Humanness in Arawak
As mentioned above, Arawak distinguishes its third person pronouns according to three fea- tures: [+– human], [+– male], and [+– plural]. If one examines the data in Figure 4, one
can see that these three features interact. For example, all non-humans, regardless of gender or number, are referred to by tho. This same pronoun is also used for singular human females.
The relationship of the number and gender features relevant to the third-person pronouns is summarized in Figure 5.
3RD PERSON HUMAN
+ –
PLURAL +
– MALE
+ –
ne li
tho ‘they’ ‘he’ ‘she,it,they’
Figure 5. Arawak Number and Gender Features 2.3 Nominals
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The forms tho, thy-, no, and -n, in the examples, can all just as well be translated as ‘it’, ‘they’, or ‘them’ since they refer to a non-human referent.
Simply knowing the features associated with the pronouns is not sufficient to allow one to choose the correct pronoun for a particular referent. The problem lies in the fact that,
for Arawak, humanness and maleness are not completely biologically based. The pronouns do not necessarily reflect whether or not a referent is human or male in an objective sense;
instead, they sometimes reflect the speaker’s feelings toward that referent. This is most true of the feature [+– human]. In general, referents are [+human] if they are Arawak, and
they are [–human] if they are not Arawak.
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However, speakers who feel a unity with other indigenous groups extend the use of [+human] to members of all such groups. It can be
further extended to include close friends in other races if both the speaker and hearer feel an affinity to them. In a similar but lesser manner, [+– male] is influenced by a speaker’s
feelings toward a referent. Cute, small, female infants and some animals are also sometimes regarded as having the feature [+male].
Applying the above specifically to Arawak third-person pronouns, one tends to find the third-person singular masculine human forms used for:
1. All males of the speaker’s ethnic group, except if special disdain is intended. 2. Males who are not of the speaker’s ethnic group, if they are friends of the speaker
or if a relationship of mutual respect exists between the speaker and referent. 3. Small, human infants either male or female, from the speaker’s group or not, if
there is no emphasis on gender intended and they are “cute.” 4. Animals e.g. hikolhi ‘turtle’, objects e.g. adali ‘sun’, and spiritual beings e.g.
Adajali ‘God’ considered to be good or desirable, or when they are protagonists in
stories. The third-person singular non-masculine forms tend to be used for:
1. All females except, sometimes, infants. 2. Males who are not of the speaker’s ethnic group except as provided for in point 2,
above. 3. All animals, objects, and spiritual beings except those provided for in 4, above.
4. The plurals of male humans who are not of the speaker’s group and the plurals of animals, objects, and spiritual beings.
The third-person human plural is used only for male and female humans who are Arawaks or with whom the speaker is in sympathy. In all other cases, plural human referents are re-
ferred to by the same forms as the third-person singular non-masculine referents see above.
2.3.2 Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives, and Articles
Arawak demonstrative pronouns, articles, and demonstrative adjectives
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are closely related to the personal pronouns in both form and meaning; however, they occur only in the third per-
son. Like the personal pronouns, they are differentiated according to the number, gender, and humanness features mentioned in the previous section. They are further differentiated
14 Phonology and Morphology
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This classification is also reflected in the nouns. Arawak has no generic root word for ‘human’, as English does. The closest word to this is lokono ‘Arawak person’ often extended to mean ‘indigenous person’. Other
races are referred to by other specific words e.g. falhetho ‘white man’, dolhi ‘negro’. Two words, wadili ‘male’ and hiaro ‘female’, are often used in Arawak under circumstances where an English speaker would use ‘man’ and
‘woman’. However, these refer only to the sex of the referent, since they can equally well be used for animals. One other word, kakythinon ‘people’, is now commonly used for groups of people. However, the singular of this word
is, again, specific for the gender of the referent: kakythi ‘man’, kakytho ‘woman’ or ‘living being’.
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Articles and demonstrative adjectives are not nominals, they are identical in form and similar in meaning to the demonstrative pronouns. Hence they are discussed together here.
