Chapter 64First-Person Plural and the Clusivity Question (ci=/=as, un=)

64.1 The exclusive first plural paradigm

The first-person plural of Hokkaido Ainu is exclusively exclusive: ci= as the transitive subject (A), =as as the intransitive subject (S), and un= as the object (O) always refer to a group from which the addressee is absent. Nakagawa, Tamura, Satō, and Bugaeva converge on this characterisation without qualification Nakagawa (2024: 163–164); Tamura (1972: 18–19); Satō (2008: 31–32); Bugaeva (2012: 471–472).

The free pronoun for this row is Saru coka, with dialectal counterparts Tokachi ciokay and ciutari. Both the Saru and Tokachi forms are built on the transitive-subject prefix ci= followed by the plural existential oka(y) 'there are', nominalized — so coka(y) is, in origin, 'those who exist as ci=-ers' Tamura (1971: 3–5); Nakagawa (2024: 253). The three-cell paradigm, set within the full person architecture, is introduced in Chapter 62 (Architecture of the Personal-Affix System: The Four Persons and the S/A/O Paradigms).

The table below places the exclusive row beside the fourth-person/indefinite row, whose first function is the inclusive 'we'. The contrast between the two rows is the structural basis of clusivity in Hokkaido Ainu. Tamura (1972: §2.2); Satō (2008)

Before a vowel-initial stem, ci= reduces to c=, parallel to the reduction of first-singular ku= to k= in the same phonological context Nakagawa (2024: 49, 166); Bugaeva (2012: 467–468).

64.2 Tripartite patterning: S, A, and O are distinct

The exclusive first plural is one of two tripartite rows in the Hokkaido paradigm: all three role exponents differ in form and position. ci= precedes a transitive stem as A; =as follows an intransitive stem as S; and un= again precedes a transitive stem as O. The S/A side-switch — prefix for A, suffix for S — is the morphological basis on which Bugaeva assigns this row a tripartite classification Bugaeva (2008: 32); Bugaeva (2012: 472); Nakagawa (2024: 166–167).

The Tokachi example below shows both subject functions within a single clause chain: the exclusive group is the A of the transitive verb o 'board' and, in the same utterance, the S of the intransitive plural motion verb arki 'come'.

The object prefix un= occupies the normal O-prefix slot of the transitive verb alongside a distinct subject index. In the Saru example below, the transitive agent is an indefinite/impersonal fourth person indexed by a=, while the exclusive group stands as object, indexed by un=.

un= is formally separate from the fourth-person object i=: the two prefixes belong to different paradigm rows and index different participants. Their historical relationship — including whether Hokkaido un= and the Sakhalin counterpart in= are cognates of the exclusive O or of the indefinite O — is part of the broader alignment debate and is pursued in Chapter 72 (Tripartite, Nominative-Accusative, and the Central Alignment Debate) Dal Corso (2025: §2.3) ‹contested›.

64.3 Clusivity: the exclusive row and the fourth-person inclusive

The semantic domain 'we' is distributed across two formal rows. The exclusive forms ci=/=as/un= index a speaker-only group; addressee-inclusive 'we' falls to the fourth-person row a=/=an/i=. Nakagawa identifies inclusive 'we' as the first of five referential values of the fourth person; Tamura treats the same morphology as an inclusive first plural in her eleven-person Saru analysis; and Bugaeva places the inclusive value at the centre of the indefinite paradigm Nakagawa (2024: 163–164, 174); Tamura (1972: 18–19, 39); Bugaeva (2012: 474–476); Bugaeva (2008: 40–43).

Tamura notes that coka is the genuine plural of kani 'I', while aoka would more accurately be described as a speaker-plus-addressee category — though she retains the label 'inclusive first plural' for it Tamura (1972: 19). The exclusive row carries no inclusive value in any Hokkaido description consulted. The complete morphology and the non-inclusive uses of a=/=an/i= belong to Chapter 67 (The Indefinite/Fourth Person: Forms, Reference, and Agent-Defocusing) and Chapter 68 (Honorific and Logophoric Uses of the Fourth Person).

Terminological disagreement over the fourth-person row does not affect the clusivity fact. Nakagawa's 'fourth person' is a formal class label; Tamura distinguishes several persons whose morphology is neutralised; Bugaeva's 'indefinite' groups inclusive, honorific, logophoric, and impersonal functions; and Takahashi, on Tokachi, adopts 'inclusive person' as a unifying functional term, arguing that the participant structure of the inclusive gives a principled account of all the disparate uses Nakagawa (2024: 174–179); Tamura (1972: 18–20, 28, 34); Bugaeva (2012: 474–476); Takahashi (2015: 205–206, 210) ‹contested›. Across these analyses, addressee-inclusive 'we' takes the fourth-person forms.

64.4 Tokachi evidence and dialect scope

Takahashi's Tokachi description provides the most explicit formulation of the exclusive/inclusive opposition for a single Hokkaido dialect. The exclusive side has ci-, -as, and un-, with free pronouns ciokay and ciutari; the inclusive side has a-/an-, -an, and i-, with anokay and anutari Takahashi (2015: 206–207). Takahashi's hyphens for personal markers are a source-internal convention; they correspond to the =-notation for personal indexes used here.

Takahashi also notes that the inclusive row selects plural verb morphology even when the referent is a single additional person: a sole addressee triggers plural stem agreement on an inclusive-marked verb Takahashi (2015: 209). Nakagawa documents the same pattern for the fourth-person honorific and hortative uses — one esteemed individual addressed with a plural stem — and for the narrator in most dialects outside Saru and Chitose Nakagawa (2024: 160–161, 174–176). The person-number agreement consequences and the conditioning of plural stems are developed in Chapter 70 (Person–Number Interactions and Plural Agreement) and Chapter 58 (Verbal Number: Suppletive Stems and the Pluractional -pa).

In oral-narrative texts, the exclusive series serves a genre-specific narrator function. In kamuy yukar, the divine protagonist uses ci=/=as/un= as self-reference, distinguishing the kamuy narrator's speech from the human first-person voice of uwepeker, which uses the fourth person Nakagawa (2024: 602–604). Whether this pattern derives from an original first-person plural strategy or a register-internal specialisation is debated Satō (2004: 179–184); Satō (2008: 259–262) ‹contested›. These narrative and logophoric dimensions are treated in Chapter 68 (Honorific and Logophoric Uses of the Fourth Person) and Chapter 150 (First-Person Narration, the Logophoric Fourth Person, and Reported Discourse).

Sakhalin Ainu presents a different configuration. Sakaguchi reports that the ci=-series functions as a grammatically plural encoding of the first singular, while the fourth-person an=-series covers both first singular and first plural without an exclusive/inclusive split of the Hokkaido type Sakaguchi (2024: 26–27, 162–163) ‹SA›.

64.5 Morphological status of the indexes and notation

The = boundary on personal indexes and the - boundary on derivational and number morphology are descriptive conventions, not a uniform claim about morphological status. Bugaeva distinguishes three grades for the Hokkaido indexes, using prosodic autonomy and separability as diagnostics: =as and =an are word-like (they may be separated from the stem by intervening material and have autonomous prosodic weight); a= and eci= are clitic-like; and ku=, ci=, en=, and un= are fuller prefixes that shift the accent kernel Bugaeva (2012: 472–473). Sakaguchi's explicit diagnostics, formulated for Sakhalin material, classify -as as root-attaching (affixal) and fourth-person =an as autonomous (clitic-like) — reversing Bugaeva's ranking for =as — while both agree that =an is the most autonomous of the subject indexes Sakaguchi (2024: ix, 62–64, 77–85, 163) ‹contested›. Nakagawa writes all person indexes with = as a convenience notation, explicitly disavowing any clitic claim Nakagawa (2024: 49). The ordering diagnostics and the clitic/affix boundary question are pursued in Chapter 69 (The Personal-Affix Template: Position Classes and Affix Ordering).

Ijäs's learner grammar writes the exclusive markers as ci-, -as, and un-, with hyphens used as a teaching convention rather than a phonological boundary symbol Ijäs (2023). The constructed example below shows the exclusive intransitive-subject marker in a simple locative clause.