Knowledge base · Part X — The Personal-Affix System and Alignment · this topic as a network
62. Architecture of the Personal-Affix System: The Four Persons and the S/A/O Paradigms
How does the language organize its personal affix system for persons and argument roles?
Personal affixes are indexed on verbs, while independent personal pronouns are optional and employed primarily for topicalization or deliberate emphasis of the subject (Nakagawa 2024: 163, Satō 2004, Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.2). Person and number are obligatorily marked on the verb, and these participant specifications cannot be omitted even when clear from the context (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.2, Nakagawa 2024: 125). Personal pronouns and adverbial particles may precede the verb, yet the personal affixes remain attached even in the presence of an independent personal pronoun (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.2). Personal affixes, together with nominal prefixes equivalent to concept forms, function to decrease verb arity (Nakagawa 2024: 137). Across Hokkaido, the attachment of personal affixes differs markedly between the Biratori and Nukibetsu dialects on the one hand and Horobetsu on the other, Horobetsu aligning more closely with Obihiro, Kushiro, and Asahikawa (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.2). Kindaichi first identified these morphemes as personal affixes rather than independent pronouns as Batchelor had described them (Refsing 1986: 23). Although verbs in principle take personal affixes, forms lacking them do occur, though such occurrences remain relatively rare and exceptional (Satō 2008: 93). In Ainu clause structure, both nouns and verbs inflect for person, grammatical relations are signaled by personal affixes, and arguments are satisfied within the core by these affixes while independent noun phrases appear outside the core as optional elements (Satō 2025). Ainu makes extensive use of these affixes (Shibatani 1990: 4). In the Saru dialect, person-marking forms comprise both personal pronouns and personal affixes (Tamura 1972: 17). Across Ainu dialects, considerable variation exists both in the inventory of person categories and in the usage of each person-marking device (Tamura 1972: 17).
generated 15 claims ·
The four formal persons
How many formal persons does the language mark on the finite verb?
First and second persons are marked on the verb with pronominal affixes, whereas the third person is unmarked. (Refsing 1986: 29) Third person has no pronominal affix, and third-person reference is typically expressed by a demonstrative adnoun followed by a nominalizer. (Refsing 1986) Pronominal affixes exist for first, second, and indefinite persons, but there is no affix for the third person. (Refsing 1986) A verb lacking pronominal affixes and explicit nominal arguments is automatically interpreted as third person, except in imperative sentences. (Refsing 1986) Third person in Ainu is expressed by a zero affix, so a verb form without an overt person affix is interpreted as third person. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.2) The third person nominative is a bare form without affixes in both singular and plural. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) First person, second person, and indefinite person arguments are obligatorily marked on the verb by person affixes in Ainu. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.6) Ainu obligatorily marks person on verbs using personal affixes, with a system distinguishing first through fourth person in singular and plural, as well as nominative and objective cases. (Nakagawa 2024: 76) Fourth-person personal affixes can attach to singular intransitive verbs only in the Saru, Chitose, and Horobetsu dialects. (Nakagawa 2024: 163) Earlier Ainu linguistics regarded the poetic register (gago) as ancient Ainu and the colloquial register as modern Ainu, claiming they each had different person paradigms, but this view is rejected today. (Nakagawa 2024: 600) Kyōsuke Kindaichi and Itsuhiko Kubodera claimed that daily speech used the first-person affixes ku=/en= (singular) and ci=/=as/un= (plural), whereas poetic language used a=/=an/i= (fourth person) for both first-person singular and plural. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 601) An unmarked verb is analyzed as having a third-person subject or object unless there is another overt subject or object. (Refsing 1986: 29) An unmarked verb has a third-person subject and/or object unless there is another overt subject and/or object. (Refsing 1986: 29) The verb stem does not change its form according to grammatical person; only the affix changes. (Refsing 1986: 29) Pronominal affixes express three grammatical persons: first person, second person, and indefinite person. (Refsing 1986: 79) There is no pronominal affix for the third person, but the absence of an affix is generally interpreted as third person when no overt subject or object is present, except in imperatives. (Refsing 1986: 79) Grammatical person in Ainu is primarily expressed through personal pronominal affixes rather than through personal pronouns. (Refsing 1986) Grammatical person in Ainu is primarily expressed through personal pronominal affixes rather than through personal pronouns. (Refsing 1986) Personal pronouns are mostly used for emphasis, while grammatical person is generally indicated by affixes to verbs and to nouns. (Refsing 1986) In Ainu, third person is zero-marked for both subject and object. (Satō 2008: 147) In Classical Ainu, first person distinguishes transitive subject, intransitive subject, and object, but does not distinguish number in any of them. (Shibatani 1990: 26) In Classical Ainu, the second person distinguishes number, but distinguishes neither transitivity of the verb nor subject versus object. (Shibatani 1990: 26)
The S/A/O paradigm
What are the three argument roles (S, A, O) indexed by person markers?
Personal affixes on the verb can index at most two arguments (subject and object). (Satō 2025, Satō 2023) Third-person arguments are zero-marked in verbal agreement. (Bugaeva 2015: 43, Bugaeva 2006: 186, Bugaeva 2008) The transitive subject (A) series of personal affixes is also used to mark possessors on nouns. (Bugaeva 2016, Bugaeva, Nichols & Bickel 2022, Bugaeva 2022: 20.6) Intransitive predicates index the S argument, whereas transitive predicates index both A and O arguments. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) In Ainu, three partially overlapping sets of verbal cross-referencing markers can be distinguished: for intransitive subject (S), transitive subject (A), and object (O). (Bugaeva 2016) First- and second-person arguments are indexed on the verb with personal prefixes ku- for 1SG.S/A, en- for 1SG.O, and e- for 2SG.S/A/O, whereas third-person subject and object are zero. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.4) The person-marking prefix indexing the possessor on an inalienable noun is identical with the transitive subject marker (A), or with the object marker (O) in the case of relational nouns. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.5) Ainu verbs are always treated in terms of personal relations, which are indicated by personal affixes classified into nominative and objective sets. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the Classical language subjective conjugation of Class I verbs, the first person is a- (both singular and plural), the second person is e- (singular) and echi- (plural), and the third person is unmarked. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class I transitive verbs, a first-person singular subject acting on a third-person object is marked by the prefix ku- (e.g. ku-kore), with no distinction between singular and plural third-person objects. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class I transitive verbs, a second-person subject acting on a first-person object combines the second-person subject prefix (e- for singular, echi- for plural, a- for honorific) with the first-person object prefix (en- for singular, un- for plural). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class I transitive verbs, a second-person honorific subject acting on a first-person or third-person object is marked by the prefix a- (e.g. a-en-kore, a-un-kore, a-kore). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class I transitive verbs, a third-person subject acting on a second-person object is marked by the second-person object prefix e- for singular, echi- for plural, and i- for honorific. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class I transitive verbs, a third-person subject acting on a first-person object is marked solely by the first-person object prefix (en- for singular, un- for plural exclusive, i- for plural inclusive). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) With the intransitive verbs 'oman and paye 'to go', person and number are marked as ku='oman (1SG), 'e='oman (2SG), 'oman (3SG), paye='an (1PL), 'eci=paye=yan (2PL), and paye=hci (3PL). (Murasaki 2025: 22) The accusative personal affixes in Sakhalin Ainu are 'en= for first-person singular, 'i= for first-person plural, 'e= for second-person singular, 'eci= for second-person plural, zero for third-person singular, and =hci for third-person plural. (Murasaki 2025: 27) Person and number of verbal subjects and objects are expressed by personal affixes, which are classified into nominative, accusative, and incorporating (portmanteau) affixes. (Murasaki 2025: 92) In younger Sakhalin Ainu speech, nominative personal affixes are ku= (1sg), 'an= / ='an (1pl), 'e= (2sg), 'eci= (2pl), zero (3sg), and =(a)hci (3pl). (Murasaki 2025: 92) In younger Sakhalin Ainu speech, accusative personal affixes are 'en= (1sg), 'i= (1pl), 'e= (2sg), 'eci= (2pl), zero (3sg), and =(a)hci (3pl). (Murasaki 2025: 92) Accusative personal affixes attach to verbs as well as to relational/locational nouns and postpositions. (Murasaki 2025: 93) There are no third-person personal affixes in Ainu. (Nakagawa 2022: 17.3) When the possessor is first-, second-, or fourth-person, person affixes attached to ordinary nouns are identical to the subjective person affixes of transitive verbs, whereas those attached to locative nouns are identical to the objective person affixes of transitive verbs. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.3) Ainu verbs inflect for objects as well as subjects. (Nakagawa 2024: 125) The intransitive subject personal affixes in Hokkaido Ainu are 1SG ku= (or k(u)= in Western Hidaka and Chitose), 1PL =as, 2SG e=, 2PL eci= (or es= in Ishikari), 3 unmarked (zero), and 4 =an. (Nakagawa 2024: 166) Transitive subject personal affixes with a third-person object are k(u)= in Western Hidaka and Chitose dialects and ku= in other dialects for first-person singular, c(i)= in Western Hidaka and Chitose dialects and ci= in other dialects for first-person plural, e= for second-person singular, es= in Ishikari dialect and eci= in other dialects for second-person plural, unmarked (zero) for third person, and a= or an= for fourth person. (Nakagawa 2024: 167) Objective personal affixes take forms completely different from subjective affixes in the first person (singular and plural) and the fourth person, but take the same forms as subjective affixes in the second person. (Nakagawa 2024: 170) Pronominal affixes distinguish nominative and objective cases, with the objective case covering both direct and indirect objects. (Refsing 1986: 79) Nominative and objective cases are only marked in pronominal affixes where separate forms are found, and otherwise they must be inferred from word order and context. (Refsing 1986) Pronominal affixes occur in the nominative case, the objective case, and in nominative-objective affixation. (Refsing 1986) Morphemes directly attached to the verb that function to index the subject are called subjective personal affixes (主格人称接辞) in Ainu grammar. (Satō 2008: 29) Ainu has no third-person subjective personal affixes; subjective personal affixes attach to verbs only when the subject is first or second person. (Satō 2008: 30) If a verb lacks personal affixes, the subject is interpreted as third person, except in imperative sentences. (Satō 2008: 30) When the subject is first or second person, personal affixes must obligatorily be attached to the verb, and cannot be omitted even if the subject is obvious from context. (Satō 2008: 30) There is no third-person personal affix in the objective series. (Satō 2008: 32) Third-person subjects, both singular and plural, have no overt personal affix on the verb (zero marking). (Satō 2008: 108) In addition to subjective person affixes, Ainu has objective person affixes that index the person of the object on the verb. (Satō 2008: 120) In Ainu, only the subject and direct object can be encoded on the verb by person marking, whereas the indirect object cannot be marked. (Satō 2023) Ainu verbs are marked by prefixes and suffixes that agree with the subject and object in person and number. (Shibatani 1990: 16) Transitive and ditransitive verbs take a different set of personal affixes from intransitive verbs. (Shibatani 1990: 18) In both Classical and colloquial Ainu, intransitive and transitive verbs each have distinct sets of personal affixes indicating the person and number of the subject and object. (Shibatani 1990: 24) In Colloquial Ainu, the basic difference between the transitive and intransitive subject systems lies in the first-person plural affixes, all other forms being neutralized. (Shibatani 1990)
Side-encoding: prefixes for A, suffixes for S
On which side of the verb stem do subject prefixes and suffixes appear?
The possessive personal affixes on nouns are identical to the personal affixes marking transitive subjects on verbs. (Shibatani 1990) The person markers =an and =as can be separated from the verb stem by other words and are autonomous prosodic units, classifying them as words. (proposed in Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) The person markers a= and eci= cannot be separated from the stem and lack independent accent, but do not change the accent kernel of the stem, so they are best classified as clitics. (proposed in Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) The person markers ku=, ci=, e=, en=, un=, and i= are full prefixes because they cannot be separated from the stem and affect the position of the accent kernel under the general accentuation rule. (reported in Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) In Ainu, transitive subject (A) and object (O) person markers are prefixes. (Bugaeva, Nichols & Bickel 2022) In the literary register, Class II division i verbs take the suffix -an for first person (singular itak-an, plural itak(-pa)-an). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the literary register, Class II division i verbs take the prefix e- for second person singular (e-itak) and echi- for second person plural (echi-itak(-pa)). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In the literary register, Class II division i verbs have an un-prefixed stem for third person (singular itak, plural itak(-pa)). (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The suffix -an is a first-person personal affix attaching to verbs like ʔinkar 'to see'. (Kirikae 1997: 11) The first-person plural affix 'an= / ='an is prefixed to transitive verbs and suffixed to intransitive verbs. (Murasaki 2025: 92) Unlike Indo-European languages and Japanese where inflections occur at the word end, personal marking in Ainu mostly involves changes at the beginning of the word. (Nakagawa 2024: 60) In most Hokkaido dialects, transitive personal affixes are formed by a combination of prefixes and suffixes (circumfixes), whereas Saru, Chitose, and Mukawa dialects use only prefixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 110) Pronominal markers such as ku= and e= are affixes forming part of the verb rather than independent pronouns. (Nakagawa 2024: 125) Among intransitive subject personal affixes, the first-person plural =as and fourth-person =an are suffixes, while all other persons are prefixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 166) In the first-person singular, second-person singular and plural, and third person, there is no difference between intransitive and transitive subject affixes, whereas in the first-person plural and fourth person, intransitive subject affixes are suffixes and transitive subject affixes are prefixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 168) In the Saru and Chitose dialects, person marking on transitive verbs is realized entirely by prefixes. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) In all Hokkaido dialects other than Saru and Chitose for which person affixes are documented, transitive verb person marking is expressed by both prefixes and suffixes as circumfixes. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.4) When the subject is a pronominal affix, the first-person affix precedes transitive verbs but follows intransitive verbs. (Refsing 1986) When the subject is a pronominal affix, the second-person affix precedes all verbs. (Refsing 1986) Pronominal suffixes are fewer than prefixes and appear only with intransitive verbs. (Refsing 1986: 79) The personal agreement affixes that mark verbs are also attached to nouns in possessive expressions. (Shibatani 1990: 16) In Classical Ainu, the first-person singular and plural intransitive subject is marked by the suffix -an. (Shibatani 1990: 24) In Colloquial Ainu, the first-person intransitive subject markers are ku- for singular, -as for exclusive plural, and -an for inclusive plural. (Shibatani 1990)
Syncretism and portmanteau cells
How does the language use syncretism for second person and portmanteau forms for first-to-second person?
Transitive verbs take incorporating personal affixes (portmanteau forms) marking subject and object combinations, such as 'eci= marking first-person singular subject acting on second-person singular object. (Murasaki 2025: 92) In combinations of first and second persons, and fourth and first/second/fourth persons, Saru and Chitose dialects express them entirely with prefixes, whereas other dialects often express them by combining a prefix and a suffix. (Nakagawa 2024: 173) Nominative personal affixes (ku=, ci=, e=, eci=, a=, =as, =an) and accusative personal affixes (en=, un=, e=, eci=, i=) have an arity of -1, while portmanteau personal affixes (eci=, a=en=, a=i=, etc.) have an arity of -2. (Nakagawa 2024: 367) In Ainu, the combination 'I [subject] you [object]' is expressed by the single prefix eci-. (Satō 2008: 9) In Chitose Ainu, the combination of a subject prefix and an object prefix on transitive verbs shows irregular portmanteau or suppletive forms and zero-marking depending on person combinations, as summarized in the subject-object personal affix paradigm. (Satō 2008: 146) The third-person subject marker on verbs is zero, such that the bare verbal form is used for third-person subjects and in imperative sentences. (Shibatani 1990: 18) In Classical Ainu, the third-person intransitive subject is unmarked (zero). (Shibatani 1990: 24) In Classical Ainu, the third-person transitive subject is unmarked (zero). (Shibatani 1990: 24) In Classical Ainu, the third person distinguishes neither transitivity, subject versus object, nor number via personal affixes. (Shibatani 1990: 26)
Number and the fourth person
How does number interact with the person paradigm, and what is the fourth person?
Sakhalin Ainu has a verbal suffix -(a)hci (or -(a)hsi in southeastern dialects including Aniwa Bay) used when the subject or object is third-person plural. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 153) In Sakhalin Ainu, the plural marker -hci is not restricted to the third person and is used optionally when plurality is specially marked, so it should not be considered part of the personal affix paradigm. (Nakagawa 2024: 154) In the Raychishka dialect of Sakhalin, the verb suffix -hci marks third-person plural. (reported in Refsing 1986: 228) The Saru dialect of Ainu distinguishes eleven persons in its grammatical person system. (Tamura 1972)
Mixed alignment and the verb template
What is the morphological alignment pattern of the person system, and how is it mixed?
Verbal indexing shows neutral alignment in the second and third persons, with e= for 2SG, eci= for 2PL, and zero marking for the third person across A, S, and O. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) Verbal indexing shows nominative-accusative alignment in the first person singular, where ku= marks A and S, and en= marks O. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) Verbal indexing exhibits tripartite alignment, with distinct forms for S, A, and O, in the first person plural exclusive and in the indefinite person. (Bugaeva 2012: 472–473) In verbal cross-referencing, Ainu exhibits mixed alignment—nominative-accusative, neutral, and tripartite—depending on person and number. (Bugaeva 2015: 43) One-argument and two/three-argument verbs take different personal affixes in the first-person plural exclusive and fourth person only. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.6) Except for complete verbs, verbs in Sakhalin Ainu must always appear in clauses bearing personal affixes. (Murasaki 2025: 9) Subject and object personal affixes are assigned an arity of -1 each because they satisfy the verb's subject or object role and reduce the number of noun phrases the verb can take, while combined subject-object forms receive -2. (Nakagawa 2024: 137) Third person has no personal affix at all (rather than a zero affix) and is assigned an arity of 0, so that third-person verbs can still take subject and object noun phrases. (Nakagawa 2024: 137) When both the subject and the object are pronominal affixes, the affix order is subject-object-verb. (Refsing 1986) When verbal expressions with kane an/oka or wa an/oka have a pronominal affix as their subject, the affix is usually marked on both the main verb and the auxiliary. (Refsing 1986) While body-part nouns usually take nominative personal affixes, when used in separable verbs they take objective personal affixes just like locational nouns (e.g. en-par instead of ku-paro). (Satō 2008: 231) When a personal pronoun is the subject or object of a verb, the possessor of an affiliative-form noun, the reference point of a spatial noun, or the relational target of certain postpositional adverbs, a personal affix agreeing with that person attaches to the verb, noun, or adverb. (Tamura 1972: 17)