Knowledge base · Part VIII — Pronouns, Demonstratives, Postpositions, and Numerals · this topic as a network

49. Personal, Reflexive, and Emphatic Pronouns

How do independent personal pronouns function in a language where person is obligatorily marked on the verb?

The phrase 'asinúma 'un is not spoken in anger; when angry, 'e'áni is used instead. (reported in Tamura 1972: 22) When a wife is asked by her husband to make something, using 'asinúma is more polite than using 'asinúma 'un. (reported in Tamura 1972: 22) Using 'a'oká in asking back whether the addressee hurt their own eye is the ordinary, simpler expression, whereas using 'asinúma in that context is often teasing or joking. (reported in Tamura 1972) The personal affixes that can attach to 'opítta 'all' are restricted to ci- (exclusive 1st person plural) and 'eci- (2nd person plural). (Tamura 1972: 35)

The independent pronouns and their place in the grammar

What is the grammatical status and behavior of independent personal pronouns?

Pronominal nouns comprise five subgroups: personal pronouns, pronouns of anaphoric reference, demonstratives, interrogatives, and indefinites. (Refsing 1986) Pronominal nouns cannot take the plural suffix, though personal pronouns and some demonstratives have separate singular and plural forms. (Refsing 1986) The second-person personal pronoun is rarely used to address persons toward whom one feels respect, polite nouns, titles, or kinship terms being used instead. (Refsing 1986) Ainu can be regarded as lacking third-person personal pronouns. (Satō 2008: 328; proposed in Satō 2008: 26) Personal pronouns are uninflected for syntactic role and are frequently omitted in subject and object position, but verbal indexing is obligatory. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) Because the possessor is obligatorily cross-referenced on the head noun, pronominal possessor NPs are normally omitted. (Bugaeva 2012: 478–479) Third-person pronouns almost never occur in texts, common nouns being used instead. (Bugaeva 2012: 500–501) Independent personal pronouns in Ainu are all neutral with respect to S, A, and O alignment. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.4) All personal pronouns can be used adverbially. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Pronouns cannot be modified by other elements. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.3) Ainu pronouns are subclassified into personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and indefinite pronouns. (Nakagawa 2024: 250) Unlike English pronouns, personal pronouns in Ainu are not grammatically obligatory, and because person is indexed by personal affixes, they are used even less frequently than in Japanese. (Nakagawa 2024: 250) Because person is obligatorily marked by personal affixes in Ainu, the role of personal pronouns is inherently limited, and personal pronouns are generally not used in neutral sentences like 'A is B' or 'A did B'. (Nakagawa 2024: 255) Third-person pronouns have an especially low frequency of use in Ainu, and expressions formed of an adnominal demonstrative plus a noun, such as toan kur, nea menoko, or Eastern Hokkaido ikiap, are commonly used instead. (Nakagawa 2024: 256) Third-person plural pronouns are even rarer than singular forms, and across dialects they are homophonous with the plural existential verb oka(y). (Nakagawa 2024: 257) Personal pronouns behave like adverbs in having an arity of 0 because they are optional adjunct-like additions to the clause, and they cannot be incorporated. (Nakagawa 2024: 263) Pronominal possessive forms like ku kor and e kor consist of a personal affix and the verb kor 'have'. (Refsing 1986: 24) In possessive constructions such as ku kor and e kor, kor is analyzed as an attributive postposition rather than as a possessive pronoun stem. (Refsing 1986: 24) In Ainu grammar, independent pronouns and pronominal affixes are grammatically distinct categories. (Refsing 1986: 56) Only the first and second persons have personal pronouns, having both singular and plural forms. (Refsing 1986: 75) Personal pronouns behave syntactically like general nouns and proper names, but their use is restricted to situations of emphasis. (Refsing 1986: 75) Pronominal nouns can function by themselves as the subject or object of a sentence, but unlike general nouns cannot be modified by adnouns or adnominalized sentences. (Refsing 1986) Pronominal nouns are syntactically similar to general nouns in being able to function by themselves as the subject or object of a sentence. (Refsing 1986) Unlike general nouns, pronominal nouns cannot be modified by adnouns or adnominalized sentences. (Refsing 1986) The first-person singular personal pronoun is káni. (Satō 2008: 25) The exclusive first-person plural personal pronoun is cóka. (Satō 2008: 26) The inclusive first-person plural personal pronoun is aoká. (Satō 2008: 26) The second-person singular personal pronoun is eani. (Satō 2008: 26) The second-person plural personal pronoun is ecioká. (Satō 2008: 26) The second-person honorific personal pronoun is aoká. (Satō 2008: 26) Ainu distinguishes two types of first-person plural: exclusive (cóka), which excludes the addressee, and inclusive (aoká), which includes the addressee. (Satō 2008: 26) The honorific second-person pronoun aoká is primarily used by women toward men, and is not used toward just anyone. (Satō 2008: 27) The second-person singular pronoun eani and plural eciokáy are ordinary second-person pronouns used in principle toward intimate peers or younger people. (Satō 2008: 27) Personal pronouns themselves make no case distinction between subjective ('nominative') and objective ('accusative') forms. (Satō 2008: 31) The second-person honorific pronoun aokáy 'you' is used primarily by women toward men. (Satō 2008: 60) The form eani 'you' is an independent personal pronoun. (Satō 2025) Personal pronouns normally do not surface because the verb carries personal affix marking, and when they do appear, they convey added pragmatic meaning such as 'as for me' or 'if it were me'. (Shibatani 1990) The first-person inclusive personal pronouns and personal affixes are used as second-person honorific forms. (Shibatani 1990: 54) Third-person pronouns are rarely used when syntactically omissible, because referring to a third person is more commonly done with personal names or common nouns, and omitting the noun phrase when clear from context is the norm. (Tamura 1972) Before secondary particles, some post-adverbs, and certain sentence-final particles where NP ellipsis is impossible, third-person pronouns can appear if the referent is clear from context, but even then common nouns are more common and neutral. (Tamura 1972) The pronoun 'oká is used when a noun phrase is syntactically required, when omission would make the meaning unclear, or for emphasis, provided that the referents are clear from context and the speaker avoids using common nouns or names. (Tamura 1972) The inclusive first-person plural prefix 'a- cannot attach to 'opítta (*'a-'opítta); instead, 'a'oká 'opítta is used. (Tamura 1972: 35) The common noun 'utár 'people' is used by a woman to address addressees when speaking to two or more men, or when addressing the men in a group that includes women. (Tamura 1972: 36) When 'utár is used by a female speaker to address multiple men, it is grammatically third-person plural. (Tamura 1972: 36) Even though 'utároka is grammatically third-person plural, semantically it refers to the addressee and is not used to refer to third parties. (Tamura 1972: 37)

Internal structure: the nominalised existential

How are personal pronouns internally derived from existential roots and nominalization?

The pronoun asinuma derives etymologically from the fourth-person/indefinite prefix a- combined with the third-person singular pronoun sinuma. (Bugaeva 2008, Bugaeva 2012: 500–501) Independent personal pronouns in Shizunai Ainu are morphologically composed of the corresponding personal affix, an existential verb stem (an or oka), and/or an additional suffix. (Refsing 1986) The newer set of personal pronouns in Southern Hokkaido arose secondarily by combining an older pronoun with the existential/locative verb an (singular) or oka (plural) and the nominalizer -i/-y. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) Colloquial independent personal pronouns such as kuani, eani, and ani originated historically from the verb an 'to be' conjugated for person and nominalized with the suffix -i, functioning as an absolute case ('as for X'). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Originally, Ainu lacked personal pronouns because subject and object relations are indexed on the verb by personal affixes; pronouns later derived from personal affixes combined with the existential verb 'an. (Murasaki 2025: 9) Personal pronouns in Ainu such as ku'ani, 'e'ani, 'anoka, and 'eci'oka were formed by compounding personal affixes with the existential verb 'an/'okay under Japanese influence. (Murasaki 2025: 85) Ainu originally lacked independent personal pronouns, which derived historically by attaching the existential verb 'an to personal affixes. (Murasaki 2025: 98) Ainu personal pronouns are historically constructed from a personal prefix plus an existential verb stem plus the formal noun hi. (Nakagawa 2024: 253) Because c(i)oka(y) and a(n)oka(y) take the prefixes ci= and a(n)= which correspond to transitive subjects, they were not formed directly on the intransitive verb oka(y), but were formed by attaching a possessive prefix to the noun phrase oka(y) + hi 'existing'. (Nakagawa 2024: 253) The final formal noun hi was lost in plural forms because *okay-i (from okay-hi with h-loss) was phonotactically illicit and contracted to okay, from which final -y was later dropped in dialects like Saru. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 253) The third-person singular pronoun anihi in the Ishikari and Tokachi dialects can be interpreted as an + ihi, where ihi is a variant of the formal noun hi occurring after the verb an. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 253) The singular personal pronouns are kuani for first person and eani for second person. (Refsing 1986) The singular personal pronouns kuani and eani can be analyzed morphologically as pronominal affix ku- or e-, followed by existential an, followed by nominalizer -i (from hi). (Refsing 1986) The plural personal pronouns are cioka or ciutar for first person plural, and ecioka or eciutar for second person plural. (Refsing 1986) The plural personal pronouns can be analyzed as pronominal prefix ci- or eci- followed by either the plural existential verb oka or the plural suffix utar. (Refsing 1986) The singular personal pronouns are kuani ('I, me') and eani ('you'), analyzed as ku- or e- plus an plus -i (< hi). (Refsing 1986) The plural personal pronouns are cioka or ciutar ('we, us') and ecioka or eciutar ('you (pl.)'), analyzed as ci- or eci- plus oka or utar. (Refsing 1986) The third-person form ikiap is often used anaphorically and can be analyzed as the ad-noun ikia plus the nominalizer p (< pe). (proposed in Refsing 1986: 95) Personal pronouns are derived from existential verbs meaning 'to exist'; for example, kuani consists of ku-, an 'exist', and the nominalizing suffix -i. (Shibatani 1990) The pronoun aoka consists of a- and oka 'to exist', and eani, ecioka, and cioka similarly contain personal affixes e-, eci-, and ci- prefixed to existential verbs. (Shibatani 1990) Chiri (1936) analyzes sinuma 'he' as sir-oma, where sir- is presumably related to the ambient prefix sir- and oma is an existential verb. (reported in Shibatani 1990) The Classical forms asinuma 'I' and esinuma 'you' involve the personal affixes a- and e- for their respective persons. (Shibatani 1990) 'utároka is a compound word formed from 'utár 'people' and the third-person plural pronoun 'oká, and grammatically it is third-person plural. (Tamura 1972: 37) While 'utár can take adnominal modifiers to head a noun phrase (e.g. 'ínne 'utar 'many people'), 'utároka cannot take adnominal modification (*'ínne 'utároka is not said). (Tamura 1972: 37)

The dialect paradigm

How does the pronoun inventory vary across dialect zones?

In the youth register of Sakhalin Ainu, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG ku'ani, 1PL 'anoka(y), 2SG 'e'ani, 2PL 'eci'oka(y), 3SG tara 'aynu, and 3PL taranoka 'aynu 'uta(h). (Murasaki 2025: 9, 98) In the Saru dialect, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG kani, 1PL coka, 2SG eani, 2PL ecioka, 3SG sinuma, 3PL oka, 4SG asinuma, and 4PL aoka. (Nakagawa 2024: 163, 250) In the Horobetsu dialect, only the historically plural form aokay is used as the fourth-person personal pronoun, co-occurring with singular verb stems when referring to a singular entity. (Nakagawa 2024: 179, 252) In the Shizunai dialect, the fourth-person personal pronoun distinguishes singular anani and plural anoka, but verbs consistently take the plural form even with singular reference. (Nakagawa 2024: 179, 252) In Shizunai Ainu, the third-person plural can occasionally be expressed by the noun utarpa 'people'. (Refsing 1986: 95) In Shizunai Ainu, the indefinite person can be expressed as anutar, but this pronoun is rarely used. (Refsing 1986: 95) In Shizunai Ainu, when the indefinite person is used in extended functions such as first person in folktales or a vague first person, the corresponding pronoun is anoka. (Refsing 1986: 95) Southern Hokkaido dialects such as Saru and Chitose have developed a special singular pronoun asinuma 'one, someone', which is cross-referenced on verbs by originally non-singular indefinite person affixes. (Bugaeva 2008) In Southern Hokkaido Ainu dialects, logophoric reference to singular participants uses the dedicated pronoun asinuma alongside the verbal affixes a= (SG.A), =an (SG.S), and i= (SG.O), with verb stems appearing in singular forms. (Bugaeva 2008) The pronoun asinuma emerged as a consequence of the reanalysis of verbs with non-singular affixation as singular forms. (reported in Bugaeva 2008) Southern Hokkaido dialects differ from others in having developed a dedicated singular logophoric pronoun asinuma cross-referenced on verbs by originally non-singular indefinite affixes. (Bugaeva 2012: 474–475) In the classical/poetic language, the independent personal pronouns are a-shinuma (1sg), a-okai (1pl), e-shinuma (2sg), echi-okai (2pl), shinuma (3sg), and okai (3pl). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Iburi (except Mukawa), the classical personal pronouns used for 1sg, 2sg, and 3sg are aokai, eani, and ani, respectively. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In kamui yukar (sacred songs), deities refer to themselves using chiokai instead of aokai. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Hidaka and the Mukawa area of Iburi, the plural personal pronouns have shapes such as aoka, echioka, and oka. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Sakhalin Ainu, the first-person plural personal pronoun is anokai. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the Chikabumi dialect, the second-person plural personal pronoun is eshiokai. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the colloquial language, a distinction between inclusive (a-okai) and exclusive (chi-okai) has developed in the first-person plural personal pronouns. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In colloquial Ainu, the second person has developed an honorific form, which uses a-okai for both singular and plural. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the elder register, the personal pronouns are 'anoka (1sg), 'anokayahcin (1pl), 'eci'oka (2sg), 'eci'okayahcin (2pl), taranoka 'aynu'uta(h) (3sg), and taranoka 'aynuhuhcin (3pl). (Murasaki 2025: 11) In the elderly register of Sakhalin Ainu, the first-person pronouns are 'anoka (1SG) and 'anokayahcin (1PL), and the second-person pronouns are 'eci'oka (2SG) and 'eci'okayahcin (2PL). (Murasaki 2025: 99) A distinction between singular and plural in fourth-person pronouns is found only in the Saru, Chitose, and Shizunai dialects. (Nakagawa 2024: 163) Among personal pronouns, only the second-person singular eani has identical phonological shape across all dialects, while the others exhibit dialectal variation. (Nakagawa 2024: 250) In the Chitose dialect, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG kani, 1PL coka(y), 2SG eani, 2PL ecioka(y), 3SG sinuma, 3PL oka(y), 4SG asinuma, and 4PL aoka(y). (Nakagawa 2024: 250) In the Shizunai dialect, the personal pronouns include 1SG kuani, 1PL cioka, 2SG eani, 2PL ecioka / eciutari, 4SG anani, and 4PL anoka / anutari. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Horobetsu dialect, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG kuani, 1PL ciokay, 2SG eani, 2PL eciokay, 3SG ani, 3PL okay, and 4th person aokay. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Ishikari dialect, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG kuani, 1PL ciokay, 2SG eani, 2PL esokay, 3SG anihi, 3PL okay, and 4th person anokay. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Tokachi dialect, the personal pronoun paradigm consists of 1SG kuani, 1PL ciokay / ciutari, 2SG eani, 2PL eciokay / eciutari, 3SG anihi, 3PL okay, and 4th person anokay / anutari. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Saru and Chitose dialects, there are the third-person singular pronoun sinuma and the fourth-person singular pronoun asinuma. (Nakagawa 2024: 255) Although Kindaichi (1931a) lists esinuma as an archaic second-person singular pronoun, the second-person singular pronoun is eani even in verse such as yukar, and no actual attested examples of esinuma have been confirmed. (Nakagawa 2024: 255) In the Saru dialect, the first-person pronouns kuani 'I' and ciokay 'we' appear in the contracted forms kani and coka, respectively. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) The Chitose dialect has the first-person plural pronoun form cokay alongside coka. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) In folk tales, the third-person form ikiap ('that guy') is found, bearing a derogatory connotation. (Refsing 1986: 95) In Kindaichi's (1931b) description, the pronoun ashinuma functions as the first-person singular in the poetic/elevated register (雅語). (reported in Satō 2004) In Kindaichi's (1931b) description, the pronoun aoka functions as the inclusive first-person plural in colloquial speech and as the first-person plural in the poetic/elevated register (雅語). (reported in Satō 2004) The singular independent pronoun asinuma in the Saru and Chitose dialects has a use as a 'quotative first person'. (reported in Satō 2004) The pronouns aoká and ecioká also have variant forms aokáy and eciokáy. (Satō 2008: 26) In the classical register, the personal pronouns are asinuma for 1SG, aoká(y) for 1PL, eani for 2SG, and ecioká(y) for 2PL. (Satō 2008: 262) Even when used for the second person, 'asinúma is grammatically singular and takes a singular verb stem, unlike 'a'oká which takes a plural verb stem. (Tamura 1972) In Ishikari, Tokachi, and Kushiro dialects, the third-person singular pronoun is 'aníhi, and according to Sada Hiraga, in Shizunai the form corresponding to Saru sinúma is also 'aníhi. (Tamura 1972: 27) The third-person singular pronoun in the Saru dialect is sinúma, the affix is Ø-, it is grammatically singular, and its referent is restricted to a single human third party. (Tamura 1972: 30) In the Saru dialect, the third-person plural personal pronoun is 'oká and the personal affix is Ø-. (Tamura 1972) The third-person plural 'oká is grammatically plural, refers to two or more third persons, and is restricted to humans. (Tamura 1972)

Two further formation types

What additional formation strategies exist beyond the existential-base type?

Genitive personal pronouns in Ainu are formed from inflected forms of the verb kor 'to have'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In kamui yukar, chi-kor is used for both singular and plural first-person genitive. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the Chikabumi dialect, the second-person plural genitive pronoun is eshi-kor. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the Tokachi and other dialects, personal pronouns formed by combining plural personal affixes with utari (such as ciutari, eciutari, anutari) exist alongside the forms derived with existential verbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 253) In Saru and Chitose, k=utari 'my family' and a=utari 'your family' are possessed common noun phrases and do not function as first- or fourth-person plural pronouns. (Nakagawa 2024: 254) Pronouns of the type 'personal affix + utari' vacillate between personal pronouns and common nouns, behaving as personal pronouns when triggering person agreement on the verb and as third-person common nouns when triggering third-person verb forms. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 254)

Functions: emphasis, contrast, and focus hosting

What conditions trigger the use of independent pronouns despite verbal person marking?

'anihi and its plural form 'okayahcin mean '-self' and are used to emphasize the preceding noun. (Murasaki 2025: 103) Independent personal pronouns are mostly used for emphasis, whereas grammatical person is generally marked by affixes on verbs and on nouns in the belonging form. (Refsing 1986) Personal pronouns in Ainu are not normally used unless the speaker intends to convey special emphasis or contrast. (Satō 2008: 28)

Emphasis

How does the language express emphasis on a participant using an independent pronoun?

In Shizunai Ainu, independent personal pronouns are generally used redundantly alongside verbal personal affixes to emphasize or topicalize grammatical person. (Refsing 1986) Because personal affixes attach to verbs and adjectives to indicate person, independent personal pronouns are not grammatically necessary and are used rarely, appearing primarily when the subject is emphatically topicalized. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Personal pronouns are used for emphasis, such as emphasizing 'I (rather than someone else)'. (Nakagawa 2024: 255) When personal pronouns are used in addition to personal affixes on the verb, they convey contrastive or emphatic meaning. (Satō 2008: 31) The personal pronoun eani 'you (sg.)' is syntactically omissible and is used for emphasis. (Satō 2008: 144) The personal pronoun eciokáy 'you (pl.)' is syntactically omissible. (Satō 2008: 145) Unlike in indefinite-person clauses where independent pronouns cannot be used, in the honorific use the independent pronoun aokáy can be used alongside personal affixes when emphatic meaning is intended. (Satō 2008: 211) The pronoun 'asinúma can be used for the second person singular, replacing 'e'áni or honorific 'a'oká to refer to a single addressee with a nuance like 'you yourself' or 'how about yourself'. (Tamura 1972: 22) Unlike other personal pronouns, third-person pronouns can be placed after a common noun denoting that person, forming an emphatic expression meaning 'that very person'. (Tamura 1972: 33) In the Ishikari dialect, the third-person pronouns 'aníhi (singular) and 'oká (plural) also have the usage of being placed after a common noun denoting that person. (reported in Tamura 1972: 33)

Contrast

How are contrasting participants marked in consecutive clauses?

Personal pronouns are used when contrasting entities with one another. (Nakagawa 2024: 256) In non-quotation contexts, all attested examples of 'asinúma occur when retorting to something the addressee said with the meaning 'how about yourself' or 'you yourself'. (Tamura 1972)

Focus-particle hosting

Why must focus particles attach to noun phrases rather than verbal indices?

Because focus particles cannot attach to personal affixes, personal pronouns are required when picking out or contrasting 'I' or 'you' with a focus particle. (Nakagawa 2024: 256) Focus particles cannot follow personal affixes, making expressions like *ku= anakne ungrammatical. (Nakagawa 2024: 256)

The fourth-person pronoun and the singular/plural asymmetry

How does the fourth-person pronoun show singular/plural asymmetry across dialects?

The major difference across dialects in personal pronouns is the presence versus absence of a singular/plural opposition in the fourth person, which distinguishes Saru, Chitose, and Shizunai from other dialects. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Saru and Chitose dialects, in the narrator use of the fourth person, a singular personal pronoun appears when semantically singular, and a plural personal pronoun appears when semantically plural. (Nakagawa 2024: 251) In the Tokachi dialect, according to Tamura (1971), anokay and anutari are both used as honorifics for the addressee, with anokay referring to a single person and anutari to multiple people, but in narrative use anokay triggers plural agreement on the verb even for a single referent. (Nakagawa 2024: 252) The fourth-person pronoun asinuma is used especially frequently for the narrator's person in oral literature. (Nakagawa 2024: 255) In addition to the plural fourth-person pronoun aoka, the Saru and Chitose dialects have the pronoun asinuma corresponding to the singular form. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) The Shizunai and Horobetsu dialects have a singular fourth-person pronoun an-an-i formed from the possessive prefix an-, the singular existential verb an, and the affiliative suffix or nominalizer -i. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) In folk tales, the form ikiap ('that guy') is used to denote the third person with a derogatory connotation, often anaphorically, and can be analyzed as ikia plus -p (< pe). (Refsing 1986: 95)