OT - For Walden - Cherokee Pronouns

[Darwin]

Rather than keep the Japanese/Chinese/martial arts thread going, I pulled this out of it:

I’ve reading a book (Nature’s Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence, by Michael S. Gazzaniga) that says that Cherokee has “sixty or seventy different pronouns, instead of the half dozen or so we use in English.”

Is this accurate? (I tend to be suspicious of statements like this until I can find additional back-up sources.) And, if it is, is it sixty, seventy, or something in between? Or, is it hard to pin down for various reasons?

[Walden]

@Darwin

Rather than keep the Japanese/Chinese/martial arts thread going, I pulled this out of it:

I’ve reading a book (Nature’s Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence, by Michael S. Gazzaniga) that says that Cherokee has “sixty or seventy different pronouns, instead of the half dozen or so we use in English.”

Is this accurate? (I tend to be suspicious of statements like this until I can find additional back-up sources.) And, if it is, is it sixty, seventy, or something in between? Or, is it hard to pin down for various reasons?

I don’t know. I can barely talk English. I could maybe ask around. I’ve long intended to study the Cherokee Language, but have yet to do it. It’s a language that, outside a few pockets, has teetered dangerously close to extinction, but it’s on the rise, a bit, due to efforts at education.

[Darwin]

@Walden

@Darwin

Rather than keep the Japanese/Chinese/martial arts thread going, I pulled this out of it:

I’ve reading a book (Nature’s Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence, by Michael S. Gazzaniga) that says that Cherokee has “sixty or seventy different pronouns, instead of the half dozen or so we use in English.”

Is this accurate? (I tend to be suspicious of statements like this until I can find additional back-up sources.) And, if it is, is it sixty, seventy, or something in between? Or, is it hard to pin down for various reasons?

I don’t know. I can barely talk English. I could maybe ask around. I’ve long intended to study the Cherokee Language, but have yet to do it.

It’s not a big deal. I was just curious, and figgered you might know, or maybe know someone else who would.

[gonzo914]

Actually, we have a lot more than six if you count all the genders, cases and possesive adjectives for both singular and plural. This chart lists 40 – http://grammar.englishclub.com/pronouns-personal.htm

[GeoMan]

I’m not sure of the exact number, but there are quite a few more forms in the Cherokee language than in English. For example, the form of “my” in the sentence “This is my dog” is different from that used in the sentence “This is my scar” because one form is used for objects that are seperate from the body, and the other for an inalienable part of your body. Also, “my hat” is different from “my sister” because one is a posession, the other deals with a relationship.

I know, I know… that really didn’t answer anyone’s question, but I felt like it should be thrown in anyway

Do-da-da-go-hv-i, (goodbye, we’ll see each other again)
Geoman

[talasiga]

keep going Geoman. You’re doing well. Thanks.

[Darwin]

@gonzo914

Actually, we have a lot more than six if you count all the genders, cases and possesive adjectives for both singular and plural. This chart lists 40 – http://grammar.englishclub.com/pronouns-personal.htm

Even though that last column is labeled “possessive adjectives”, that still leaves 32.

Or 37, if we add “meself”, “hisself”, “theirselves”, “y’all”, and “y’all’s”. Then there are the special hostile forms, as in “Do it yourowndamnedself.”

So, sixty or seventy isn’t so far-fetched after all.

[Darwin]

@talasiga

keep going Geoman. You’re doing well. Thanks.

Yes. That’s the kind of thing I was looking for. Thanks.

[Walden]

@Darwin

“hisself”, “theirselves”

Had these actually not been counted?

[Darwin]

@Walden

@Darwin

“hisself”, “theirselves”

Had these actually not been counted?

I s’pect them folks as made that there chart don’t talk normal English theirownselves. Don’t know how come they done let non-Texans write about grammar in the first place.

[Walden]

@Darwin

@Walden

@Darwin

“hisself”, “theirselves”

Had these actually not been counted?

I s’pect them folks as made that there chart don’t talk normal English theirownselves. Don’t know how come they done let non-Texans write about grammar in the first place.

Aouwn’t know, but I’m a non-Texan, and even I knowed them pronouns.