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Inherently reflexive verbs
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Inherent reflexives are reflexives forming an idiomatic combination with verbs. They are homophonous with personal pronouns in Frisian, though some strong and weak forms may not be used as inherent reflexives. An example of a reflexive paradigm is given below:

Table 1
Gloss jin fersinne to be mistaken jin waskje to wash oneself
1SG Ik fersin my Ik waskje my
2SG Do fersinst dy Do waskest dy
3SG.MSC (NT) Hy fersint him Hy wasket him
3SG.F Hja fersint har Hja wasket har
3SG.NT It fersint him It wasket him
1PL Wy fersinne ús Wy waskje ús
2PL Jim fersinne jim Jim waskje jim
3PL Hja fersinne har Hja waskje har
2SG formal Jo fersinne jo / je Jo waskje jo /je
3SG arbitrary Men fersint jin Men wasket jin

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Inherently reflexive verbs can always be formed with the weak forms of the object pronouns, with one exception: the weak pronoun se cannot be used in the 3PL or in the 3SG.FEM as an inherent reflexive form, although it may be used as a non-reflexive pronoun:

1
a. Ik waskje se / har net
I wash them them not
I do not wash them
b. *De manlju waskje se net
the men wash themselves not
The men do not wash themselves
c. De manlju waskje har net
the men wash themselves not
The men do not wash themselves
d. *Maaike wasket se net
Maaike washes her not
Maaike does not wash herself
e. Maaike wasket har net
Maaike washes her not
Maaike does not wash herself

The Dutch equivalent to se, ze may not be used as an inherent reflexive either. Some strong forms of the Frisian pronoun may be used as reflexives, whereas others may not. The 1SG reflexive may be pronounced as a strong pronoun instead of as a weak one. The example below is grammatical in case my is pronounced with a diphthong (strong form) instead of with a high front vowel (weak form):

2
Ik fersin my
I mistake me
I am mistaken

The 2SG may not be pronounced as a strong pronoun. The example below is ungrammatical in case dy is pronounced with a diphthong (strong form) instead of with a high front vowel (weak form):

3
*Do fersinst dy
you mistake you
You are mistaken

The 3SG arbitrary pronoun jin belongs mainly to written language. Spoken Frisian occasionally features the reflexive sich, a loan from Dutch.

extra
Literature

This topic is based on Hoekstra (1994).

References
  • Hoekstra, Jarich1994Pronouns and Case. On the distribution of Frisian harren and se 'them'Leuvense bijdragen8347-65
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