Table 5. Demonstratives in BisuLaomian
Distance Reference
Near Distant
Far Further
Furthest
General ‘This’ ni
55
‘That’ bi
55
, or thi
55
‘That’ xi
55
‘That’ i
55
Persons or
objects Sing-
ular ‘This’ ni
55
+classifier ‘That’ bi
55
+ classifier
‘That’ xi
55
+classifier ‘That’ i
55
+classifier Objects
‘This one’ niŋ
55
‘That one’ biŋ
55
‘That one’ xiŋ
55
‘That one’ iŋ
55
persons or
objects Plural
‘These’ ni
55
lo
31
pɣn
33
+ classifier Ø
‘These kinds’ ni
55
ɯ
55
‘Those kinds’ xi ɯ
55
Location ‘Here’ ni
55
kɣ
33
‘There’ bi
55
kɣ
33
‘There’ xi
55
kɣ
33
‘There’ i
55
kɣ
33
‘This side’ ‘That side’
‘That side’ ‘That side’
‘This direction’ ‘That direction’
‘That direction’ ‘That direction’
‘This place’ ‘That place’
‘That place’ ‘That place’
Time Ø
‘That time’ xi
55
mɣ
33
Manner or degree ‘This way’ ‘That way’ thi
55
ne
33
7.1.2 Lahu pronouns types
Lahu has only four single-morpheme pronouns, all of which are personal pronouns: 1
SG
, 2
SG
, 3
SG
and remote 3
SG
3
PL
. These can be compounded into first-, second- and third-person dual forms by suffixation with the non-remote forms Matisoff 1973:49, 65.
Lahu has two types of nouns which would be grouped with pronouns in other language descriptions:
• interrogatives ‘who’, ‘what kind of’, ‘where’, ‘how’ 2, ‘which one’, ‘when’
• demonstrative proforms ‘this’, ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘way over there’, ‘up there’, and ‘down there’ Matisoff
1973: 50–52
7.1.3 Lalo pronouns types
Lalo pronouns have first, second, third person, and third person remote forms in both singular and plural and may be modified by noun particles, allowing them to be considered nouns Björverud 1998:51. Lalo
makes no distinction between ‘we’ first plural inclusive and exclusive, nor are there any dual-number pronouns Björverud 1998:51. There is a plural suffix that readily attaches to produce 1–3
P
pronouns, but the 3
P
-remote pronoun rarely uses the plural suffix. This plural suffix is never used with common nouns Björverud 1998:51. There are two forms of the second person; one shorter, and one longer. The
shorter form is considered unmarked Björverud 1998:51.
7.1.4 Nuosu pronoun types
In Nuosu, there are six types of pronouns: •
personal pronouns 1
SG
, 2
SG
, 3
SG
, 1
PL
, 2
PL
, and 3
PL
, which are identical for subject case, for object case, and for use as possessive determiners Fu 1997:97. These can all be suffixed with ‘two’ to
create dual first-, second- and third-person forms. By suffixing the 1
PL
, 2
PL
, or 3
SG
forms with the numeral for ‘three’ or higher plus the classifier for persons, trials and higher order pronouns can be
created Fu 1997:100. • personal possessive pronouns, which are created from the six personal pronouns by adding the
possessive particle, leading to Fu’s comment, “We cannot, as maintained by other authors, say that there is no inflection in Lolo [Nuosu]” Fu 1997:97
• reflexive pronouns are formed by adding the the morpheme ‘self’ to the end of the six personal pronouns Fu 1997:100
• possessive reflexive pronouns ‘my own’, ‘your own’, …, which are formed by adding the possessive particle to the end of the six reflexive pronouns with Fu 1997:100
• demonstrative pronouns 3, which express varying distance ‘this’, ‘that’, and ‘yon’. They are also used as demonstrative determiners Fu 1997: 101
• demonstratives of place pronouns ’thisthatyonder place’ or ‘thisthatyonder part’, which are formed by adding a suffix to the basic demonstrative pronouns Fu 1997: 101
7.2 Pronoun use 7.2.1 Bisu pronoun use
