Chapter 63First- and Second-Person Singular

63.1 Two patterns of alignment

First-person singular distinguishes the subject forms ku= from the object form en=. Second-person singular uses e= in all three argument roles. The following forms describe the Saru/Chitose reference paradigm; in the transitive columns, the other argument is third person Nakagawa (2024: 166–170, tables 25–27); Bugaeva (2012: 472).

The first row has nominative–accusative alignment, S=A≠O; the second has neutral alignment, S=A=O. The contrast between ku= and en= therefore concerns argument role. A first-person intransitive subject takes the S form even when the predicate describes a state Bugaeva (2012: 472–473). The complete person-conditioned alignment pattern appears in Chapter 62 (Person Marking and Argument Roles).

63.2 First-person subjects and contraction

The existential predicate in this Ishikari example retains ku= before an. In western Hidaka and Chitose, Nakagawa describes contraction of ku= to k= before stems beginning in a, u, e, o. His notation k(u)= records this alternation Nakagawa (2024: 166–167). The regional and phonological limits are discussed in Chapter 31 (Person Markers: Contraction, Accent, and Suffix Boundaries).

63.3 The first-person object

The object form en= can identify a participant translated as “me” or “to me,” according to the verb's argument structure Satō (2008: 120–121). An overt first-person pronoun is unnecessary in the following Shizunai clause.

Refsing associates this form with personal reference in conversation Refsing (1986: 214–215). Narration and reported speech can use another person series for a participant translated as “I” or “me”; the dialect and register restrictions are treated in Chapter 67 (Fourth-Person Forms and Their Uses).

63.4 Second-person roles and imperative address

The role of e= follows from the construction. Refsing's example below indexes the recipient of giving. The subject has no overt third-person marker, and the fish is the transferred object Refsing (1986: 217, example 350).

Addressing someone does not by itself require an overt second-person index. In Refsing's e=e rusuy cik, e, “if you want to eat, eat,” the conditional clause has e=, while the final imperative is the bare verb Refsing (1986: 216, example 348). See Chapter 114 (Commands, Requests, and Prohibitions) for the imperative constructions.

When first and second person are both arguments of a transitive verb, the interaction paradigm supplies forms that cannot be predicted by simply joining the two rows above. Conversational first-to-second-person reference in Saru and Chitose uses eci= Satō (2008: 146–147); Bugaeva (2012: 474). Those combinations and their regional differences are set out in Chapter 65 (Eci and Person Interactions).