- Dutch
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
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- Dutch
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Word stress
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
- Morphology
- Word formation
- Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
- Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
- Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
- Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
- Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
- Word formation
- Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I:Argument structure
- 3 Projection of verb phrases II:Verb frame alternations
- Introduction
- 3.1. Main types
- 3.2. Alternations involving the external argument
- 3.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.3.1.1. Dative alternation with aan-phrases (recipients)
- 3.3.1.2. Dative alternation with naar-phrases (goals)
- 3.3.1.3. Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
- 3.3.1.4. Dative alternation with bij-phrases (possessors)
- 3.3.1.5. Dative alternation with voor-phrases (benefactives)
- 3.3.1.6. Conclusion
- 3.3.1.7. Bibliographical notes
- 3.3.2. Accusative/PP alternations
- 3.3.3. Nominative/PP alternations
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.4. Some apparent cases of verb frame alternation
- 3.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa:Selection of clauses/verb phrases
- 5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb:Argument and complementive clauses
- Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc:Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId:Verb clusters
- 8 Projection of verb phrases IV: Adverbial modification
- 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
- 10 Word order in the clause II:Position of the finite verb (verb-first/second)
- 11 Word order in the clause III:Clause-initial position (wh-movement)
- Introduction
- 11.1. The formation of V1- and V2-clauses
- 11.2. Clause-initial position remains (phonetically) empty
- 11.3. Clause-initial position is filled
- 12 Word order in the clause IV:Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- 14 Main-clause external elements
- Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of noun phrases I: complementation
- Introduction
- 2.1. General observations
- 2.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 2.3. Clausal complements
- 2.4. Bibliographical notes
- 3 Projection of noun phrases II: modification
- Introduction
- 3.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 3.2. Premodification
- 3.3. Postmodification
- 3.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 3.3.2. Relative clauses
- 3.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 3.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 3.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 3.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 3.4. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of noun phrases III: binominal constructions
- Introduction
- 4.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 4.3. Bibliographical notes
- 5 Determiners: articles and pronouns
- Introduction
- 5.1. Articles
- 5.2. Pronouns
- 5.3. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Numerals and quantifiers
- 7 Pre-determiners
- Introduction
- 7.1. The universal quantifier al 'all' and its alternants
- 7.2. The pre-determiner heel 'all/whole'
- 7.3. A note on focus particles
- 7.4. Bibliographical notes
- 8 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- 2 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 4 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 5 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 6 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 7 The partitive genitive construction
- 8 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 9 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- 10 Special constructions
- Adpositions and adpositional phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Introduction
- 1.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 1.2. A formal classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
- 1.3.2. Temporal adpositions
- 1.3.3. Non-spatial/temporal prepositions
- 1.4. Borderline cases
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 2 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 4 Syntactic uses of the adpositional phrase
- 5 R-pronominalization and R-words
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Phonology
- Frisian
- General
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
- Morphology
- Inflection
- Word formation
- Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
- Compositions
- Derivation
- Syntax
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
- Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
- Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
- Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
- Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
- Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Saterfrisian
- General
- Morphology
- Morphology
- 1 Word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 1.1.1 Compounds and their heads
- 1.1.2 Special types of compounds
- 1.1.2.1 Affixoids
- 1.1.2.2 Coordinative compounds
- 1.1.2.3 Synthetic compounds and complex pseudo-participles
- 1.1.2.4 Reduplicative compounds
- 1.1.2.5 Phrase-based compounds
- 1.1.2.6 Elative compounds
- 1.1.2.7 Exocentric compounds
- 1.1.2.8 Linking elements
- 1.1.2.9 Separable Complex Verbs and Particle Verbs
- 1.1.2.10 Noun Incorporation Verbs
- 1.1.2.11 Gapping
- 1.2 Derivation
- 1.3 Minor patterns of word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 2 Inflection
- 1 Word formation
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- 0 Introduction to the AP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of APs
- 2 Complementation of APs
- 3 Modification and degree quantification of APs
- 4 Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative
- 5 Attribution of APs
- 6 Predication of APs
- 7 The partitive adjective construction
- 8 Adverbial use of APs
- 9 Participles and infinitives as APs
- Nouns and Noun Phrases (NPs)
- 0 Introduction to the NP
- 1 Characteristics and Classification of NPs
- 2 Complementation of NPs
- 3 Modification of NPs
- 3.1 Modification of NP by Determiners and APs
- 3.2 Modification of NP by PP
- 3.3 Modification of NP by adverbial clauses
- 3.4 Modification of NP by possessors
- 3.5 Modification of NP by relative clauses
- 3.6 Modification of NP in a cleft construction
- 3.7 Free relative clauses and selected interrogative clauses
- 4 Partitive noun constructions and constructions related to them
- 4.1 The referential partitive construction
- 4.2 The partitive construction of abstract quantity
- 4.3 The numerical partitive construction
- 4.4 The partitive interrogative construction
- 4.5 Adjectival, nominal and nominalised partitive quantifiers
- 4.6 Kind partitives
- 4.7 Partitive predication with a preposition
- 4.8 Bare nominal attribution
- 5 Articles and names
- 6 Pronouns
- 7 Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- 8 Interrogative pronouns
- 9 R-pronouns and the indefinite expletive
- 10 Syntactic functions of Noun Phrases
- Adpositions and Adpositional Phrases (PPs)
- 0 Introduction to the PP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of PPs
- 2 Complementation of PPs
- 3 Modification of PPs
- 4 Bare (intransitive) adpositions
- 5 Predication of PPs
- 6 Form and distribution of adpositions with respect to staticity and construction type
- 7 Adpositional complements and adverbials
- Verbs and Verb Phrases (VPs)
- 0 Introduction to the VP in Saterland Frisian
- 1 Characteristics and classification of verbs
- 2 Unergative and unaccusative subjects and the auxiliary of the perfect
- 3 Evidentiality in relation to perception and epistemicity
- 4 Types of to-infinitival constituents
- 5 Predication
- 5.1 The auxiliary of being and its selection restrictions
- 5.2 The auxiliary of going and its selection restrictions
- 5.3 The auxiliary of continuation and its selection restrictions
- 5.4 The auxiliary of coming and its selection restrictions
- 5.5 Modal auxiliaries and their selection restrictions
- 5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
- 5.7 Transitive verbs of predication
- 5.8 The auxiliary of doing used as a semantically empty finite auxiliary
- 5.9 Supplementive predication
- 6 The verbal paradigm, irregularity and suppletion
- 7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
- 8 Various aspects of clause structure
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- Afrikaans
- General
- Phonology
- Afrikaans phonology
- Segment inventory
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
- Overview of Afrikaans consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The alveolar fricative /s/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
- Phonological processes
- Vowel related processes
- Consonant related processes
- Homorganic glide insertion
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Phonotactics
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Afrikaans syntax
- Nouns and noun phrases
- Characteristics of the NP
- Classification of nouns
- Complementation of NPs
- Modification of NPs
- Binominal and partitive constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Partitive constructions with nominalised quantifiers
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Binominal name constructions
- Binominal genitive constructions
- Bare nominal attribution
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- Syntactic uses of the noun phrase
- Adjectives and adjective phrases
- Characteristics and classification of the AP
- Complementation of APs
- Modification and Degree Quantification of APs
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution of APs
- Predication of APs
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use of APs
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
- Verbs and verb phrases
- Characterisation and classification
- Argument structure
- Verb frame alternations
- Complements of non-main verbs
- Verb clusters
- Complement clauses
- Adverbial modification
- Word order in the clause: Introduction
- Word order in the clause: position of the finite Verb
- Word order in the clause: Clause-initial position
- Word order in the clause: Extraposition and right-dislocation in the postverbal field
- Word order in the middle field
- Emphatic constructions
- Adpositions and adposition phrases
- Afrikaans >
- Syntax >
- Nouns and noun phrases >
- Pronouns >
- Personal pronouns >
- First person pronouns
First person pronouns
quickinfo
In Afrikaans first person pronouns, there is a distinction between singular and plural. The singular subject form of the first person is ek I (as in example 1a), and the object form is my me (1b).
1
| a. | Ek wil weet wat daar aangaan. | ||||||||||||||
| I want.to.AUX.MOD know that.REL there on.go | |||||||||||||||
| I want to know what's going on there. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Die onderwys het my nog altyd na aan die hart gelê. | ||||||||||||||
| the education have.AUX me still always close to the heart lie.PST | |||||||||||||||
| Education has always been close to my heart. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
The plural first person pronoun is ons we/us regardless of whether it is used as as subject (2a) or as an object (2b).
2
| a. | Ons glo taalverskeidenheid is 'n hulpbron en nie 'n probleem nie. | ||||||||||||||
| we believe language.variety be.PRS a help.source and not a problem PTCL.NEG | |||||||||||||||
| We believe that linguistic variety is a resource and not a problem. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Jy laat ons bloei. | ||||||||||||||
| you.SG let us bleed | |||||||||||||||
| You make us bleed. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
readmore
[+]First person singular pronouns
The subject form of the first person singular pronoun in Afrikaans is ek I (3a and 3b), although an extended form ekke [ɛkə] [ɜkə] is used emphatically sometimes (Donaldson 1993:123). The extended form (3c and 3d) is used infrequently in written language, but could be more frequent in informal spoken language, such as in the pop song "Cooler as ekke" (Cooler than me) by artist Jack Parow. Example (3d) illustrates its use in the collocation arme ekke poor me which is a fixed expression conveying a mocking tone regarding self-pity.
3
| a. | Ek is steeds in die diens van my werkgewer. | ||||||||||||||
| I be.PRS still in the service of my work.giver | |||||||||||||||
| I am still employed by my employer. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Dit, glo ek, is die groot en sterk argument vir Afrikaans. | ||||||||||||||
| it believe I be.PRS the big and strong argument for Afrikaans | |||||||||||||||
| This, I believe, is the big and strong argument for Afrikaans. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| c. | Dáái ou sal ekke wees, meneer. | ||||||||||||||
| that guy will I be.INF mister | |||||||||||||||
| That guy would be me, sir. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| d. | Ag shame, arme ekke het niks gekry nie, ek kan niks doen nie. | ||||||||||||||
| aw shame poor I have.AUX nothing get.PST PTCL.NEG I can.AUX.MOD nothing do PTCL.NEG | |||||||||||||||
| Aw, poor me, I didn't get anything, and I can't do anything. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO, adapted | |||||||||||||||
The object form of the first person singular pronoun is my me, which is used when the pronoun is in the object position (4a) as well as in a prepositional phrase (PP) (4b).
4
| a. | Dit het my gerusgestel. | ||||||||||||||
| it have.AUX me at.ease.put.PST | |||||||||||||||
| It put me at ease. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO, adapted | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Wat vir my interessant is, is hoe mense soek. | ||||||||||||||
| that.REL for me interesting be.PRS be.PRS how people search | |||||||||||||||
| What's interesting for me, is how people search. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
[+]First person plural pronouns
The first person plural pronoun in Afrikaans is ons we/us, whether it is used as a syntactic subject (5a), syntactic object (5b), or in a PP (5c).
5
| a. | Ons is veral ernstig oor die bevordering van Afrikaans. | ||||||||||||||
| we be.PRS especially serious about the promotion of Afrikaans. | |||||||||||||||
| We are particularly serious about the promotion of Afrikaans. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Hy het gedink hy kan ons uitoorlê. | ||||||||||||||
| he have.AUX tink.PST he can.AUX.MOD us defeat | |||||||||||||||
| He thought he could defeat us. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| c. | Dit begin by ons. | ||||||||||||||
| it start by us | |||||||||||||||
| It starts with us. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
In the use of the first person plural ons, the addressee might be included in the expression, as in (6a), but not necessarily, as in (6b), where it excludes the addressee and refers to the speaker/writer and one or more people associated with them in some way.
6
| a. | Laat ons mekaar se hande vat, en saam oplossings vind in die gees van 'n Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap. | ||||||||||||||
| let us each.other PTCL.GEN hands take and together solutions find in the spirit of a South African community | |||||||||||||||
| Let us take each other's hands, and find the solution together in the spirit of a South African community. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Ons wil julle graag ondersteun. | ||||||||||||||
| we want.to.AUX.MOD you.PL gladly support | |||||||||||||||
| We really want to support you. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
The pronoun ons can also be used with a postmodifying noun (7a) or noun phrase (NP) (7b), numeral (7c) or indefinite pronoun (7d and 7e) that identifies a particular group of which the speaker/writer is a member. Some prescriptive sources, e.g. Prinsloo and Odendal (1995:209) and Van der Merwe and Ponelis (1991:238), recommend that these constructions are used rather than partitive genitive constructions with van of such as die drie van ons the three of us, almal van ons all of us, or elkeen van ons each one of us.
7
| a. | Ons onderdruktes het ons kinders na Engelse skole gestuur. | ||||||||||||||
| we oppressed.PL have.AUX our children to English schools send.PST | |||||||||||||||
| We oppressed sent our children to English schools. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Maar toe snik ons klomp mans soos ons huil... | ||||||||||||||
| but then sob us lot men like we cry | |||||||||||||||
| But then we men sobbed as we cried... | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| c. | My kinders doen nou tuisonderrig, en ons drie is nou voltyds besig daarmee. | ||||||||||||||
| my children do now home.teaching and us three be.PRS now full.time busy PN.with | |||||||||||||||
| My children now do homeschooling, and the tree of us are now busy with that full time. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
| d. | Tesame is ons almal die hoop van ons reënboognasie. | ||||||||||||||
| together be.PRS us everybody the hope of our rainbow.nation | |||||||||||||||
| Together, all of us are the hope of our rainbow nation. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO, adapted | |||||||||||||||
| e. | Hy gooi vir ons elkeen 'n dop wat skaars die glas se bodem bedek. | ||||||||||||||
| he throw for us each.one a drink that.REL barely the glass PTCL.GEN bottom cover | |||||||||||||||
| He pours each of us a drink that barely covers the bottom of the glass. | |||||||||||||||
| VivA-KPO | |||||||||||||||
References
- Donaldson, B.C1993A grammar of Afrikaans.ReeksMouton de Gruyter
- Prinsloo, AF & Odendal, FF1995Afrikaans op sy besteVan Schaik
- Van der Merwe, H.J.J.M. & Ponelis, F. (hers.)1982Die korrekte woord: Afrikaanse taalkwessies.Van Schaik
About this article
Author(s): Johanita Kirsten; Adri Breed
Category: Afrikaans Syntax
Keywords: personal pronounfirst person pronounfirst person singular pronounfirst person plural pronoun
Version: 1.0, May 2020
Version history:
| version | editor(s) | date | remarks |
| 1.0 | Johanita Kirsten; Adri Breed | May 2020 |
This is a beta version.
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