User:Sitaron/Cherokee pronouns

Structure of the verb
The structure of the Cherokee verb can be represented by the following position template. The positions in blue are obligatory and constitute the minimal verb. Some positions can receive multiple morphemes in sequence and are indicated by a plural between parentheses. Some derivational suffixes attach directly to the verb base, while others attach to the Infinitive or Perfective stem (aspect) of the verb.

Verb bases
Verb bases can consist of a single verb root (-y- "to look for"), but often they are etymologically complex. These bases consist of a compound of two verb roots, or of an incorporated noun root and a verb root. Noun incorporation is most conspicuous in verbs in relation with body parts and clothes, and in classificatory verbs. Unlike Northern Iroquoian languages though, these two derivational devices are no longer productive in Cherokee, and often the resulting base is synchronically opaque, as the fossilized noun or verb elements no longer exist as standalone bases in the language. For example: -as-goó- "to dig", -hnuú-goó- "to claw", -adla-goó- "to scratch", -jali-goó- "to scratch", of unidentified elements. In other instances, the second verbal element is so reduced that it becomes indistinguishable from the aspectual suffix:

Pronouns and pronominal prefixes
Like many Native American languages, Cherokee pronominal prefixes that can index both subject and object. Pronominal prefixes always appear on verbs and can also appear on adjectives and nouns. There are only two separate words which function as pronouns: aya 'I, me, my' and nihi 'you, your', that can refer to plural persons given the proper context.

Cherokee has two classes of pronominal prefixes:
 * single-argument prefixes, encoding only one person. They are to be used with intransitive verbs, and with transitive verbs with 3rd person subject and/or object. When the subject is 1st or 2nd person, the 3rd person object is necessarily inanimate. When the subject is 3rd person, the 3rd person object can be animate or inanimate.
 * two-argument prefixes, encoding two persons. They are to be used with transitive verbs with 1st or 2nd person subjects and 1st, 2nd or 3rd person animate objects.

Most prominently, this means Cherokee marks transitive verbs with inanimate 3rd person objects the same way as intransitive verbs. The object argument of these verbs is not marked in the pronominal prefixes but is a lexical property of the verb. Unlike English, the same verb cannot be used transitively and intransitively, so that while "I eat it" and "I eat" will use the same single-argument pronominal prefix in Cherokee, the verbs will necessarily be different.

Single-argument prefixes
Cherokee has two sets of single-argument prefixes, commonly called "set A" and "set B" prefixes. The choice of either set is a lexical property of the verb:
 * Some verbs are specified for taking set B prefixes in all aspects. These are called "B-verbs". Most are intransitive verbs, denoting a state ("to be sick"), a change of state ("to get sick"), a position ("to sit down"), involuntary actions ("to yawn"), or weakly transitive verbs ("to like it", "to listen to it"), though there are a few strong transitive verbs ("to buy it").
 * Some verbs are specified for always taking set A prefixes, except in the Perfective and Infinitive aspects where they take set B prefixes. These are called "A-verbs", and the aspects in which they switch to set B prefixes – "B-stems". Most are voluntary intransitive verbs ("to run", "to say"), or transitive verbs ("to eat it").
 * A few verbs behave like B-verbs, except if the subject is 3rd person and the object is 3rd person animate, then they switch to A-verb. These are called "A-B verbs". The distinction is neutralized in B-stems (Perfective and Infinitive). Compare:

The two sets of prefixes are as follows:

The forms ending in a vowel are to be used before stems starting in a consonant, and vice-versa. For example, "h(i)-" means to use hi- before consonants and h- before vowels. If the alternation is more complex, both allomorphs are shown separated by a slash. For example, "ji-/g-" means to use ji- before consonants and g- before vowels.

In the 3rd person singular of set A, there are two possible prefixes, (a)- and g(a)-. Verbs are lexically specified for taking one or the other prefix. This can generally not be predicted, though there are some phonological tendencies based on the stem's onset.

All these forms can take the distributive (DIST) prepronominal prefix dee- to make the 3rd person object plural, though this prefix can also denote plurality of actions rather than objects, or both. Compare:

There is also a less common "unspecified subject" prefix, corresponding to English "one" / generic "you" or French "on". The set A prefix is (a)-, g(a) (same as 3rd person sg), and the set B prefix is oo-/ow-. A-verbs take set A prefixes even in B stems (Perfective, Infinitive). Compare:

Transitive verbs
The pronominal prefixes for transitive verbs are as follows. The set A and set B single-argument prefixes to be used with 3rd person subjects or objects are highlighted in green and blue respectively. Although some patterns can be found, most prefixes are fused or frozen forms, and cannot be synchronically derived.

Combinations of first (exclusive) and second persons only show 3 forms:
 * a singular form when both subject and object are singular,
 * a dual form when at least subject or object is dual,
 * a plural form when at least subject or object is plural.

Diagonal elements in the 1st and 2nd pronouns need to use the reflexive prefix (REFL) with the appropriate set A or set B single-argument prefixes. For example:

As apparent in the table, the set B prefixes have in fact two opposite uses: in addition to mapping all subjects to a 3rd person singular object for B-verbs and the B-stems of A-verbs as mentioned in the previous section (blue column), they also map a 3rd person singular subject to all objects, for all verbs and all aspects (blue row). This shows how Cherokee morphologically relates the low-agentivity, experiencer or patient-like subjects of B-verbs with the object of transitive verbs. These two opposite readings of set B prefixes can lead to ambiguity in all aspects of B-verbs (first example) or in the B-stems of A-verbs (second example):

Animacy is distinguished only for 3rd person object pronouns:
 * when the subject is 1sr or 2nd person, the distinction is between inanimate and animate 3rd person objects.
 * when both subject and object are 3rd persons, the distinction is between objects of lower or equal animacy than the subject (called the "direct" or "active" clauses), and objects of higher animacy than the subject (called the "inverse" or sometimes "passive" clauses).


 * In Cherokee, the animacy hierarchy goes as follows :


 * 1st and 2nd persons
 * style="font-size:25px;" | &emsp;>&emsp;
 * 3rd pers. human
 * style="font-size:25px;"| &emsp;>&emsp;
 * 3rd pers. animate non-human
 * style="font-size:25px;" | &emsp;>&emsp;
 * 3rd pers. inanimate
 * }
 * }
 * }


 * There are a few more factors than can come into play, as definiteness, fore- or backgrounding (proximate/obviative), with some inter-speaker variation for animate referents (like humans vs. animals) or referents of equal rank (human vs human, animal vs animal). Age, sex, size or social status don't seem to play a role.


 * There are two "direct" sets of prefixes (set A and set B, depending on the verb), but only one "inverse" set (for all verbs), which is derived from set B. Notice how the same prefix uunii- swaps number assignment between the direct set B prefix (3pl subject / 3sg object) and the inverse prefix (3sg subject / 3pl object).


 * For A-B verbs, there is now a second reading of the set B form:

Pluralization of 3rd person pronouns is achieved through a few means:
 * 3rd person inanimate objects add the distributive prepronominal prefix (DIST).
 * 3rd person animate objects add a g(a)- prefix to the 3rd person singular animate object prefix, or use the same prefix as for inanimate objects. There is a fair amount of inter-speaker variation with regards to this. Scancarelli notes that all reports agree that the 1sg subject prefix only uses the first device (ga-jii(y)-), but Montgomery-Anderson shows a few examples using yet a third device, namely DIST + 3rd person animate object prefix (DIST + jii(y)-).
 * 3rd person subjects adds an unanalyzable g- ~ ga- ~ gee- prefix to the set B prefixes.

As for single-argument prefixes, there is an "unspecified subject" set of prefixes, also called "object focus" prefixes, built on set B prefixes but synchronically opaque. They are often translated with the passive voice in English. The 3rd person object prefixes (sg. aji-/ag- and pl. geeji-/geeg-) only apply to animate objects. For inanimate objects, the set A or set B "unspecified subject" prefix shown in the previous section is used, as expected for subjects with 3rd person inanimate objects (green and blue columns).

It is not clear whether the object of these prefixes can be pluralized with the distributive prepronominal prefix (DIST).