--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "C. Darwin Goranson"
<cdog_squirrel@...> wrote:
> My theory is that maybe it was some kind of "polite first person"
> that overtook the common one. Aren't there such things in Japanese
> or in other languages?
Yes, but I think Japanese is fairly simple here. Try Thai and you'll
soon understand why they omit pronouns when they can!
However, I think the Portuguese polite second person pronouns are a
better example. The nominative and disjunctive are or derive from
noun phrases, while the accusative, dative and reflexive are old pronouns:
Sing: Nom: você, Acc: o/a, Dat: lhe, Refl: se, Disj: si/você
Sing: Nom: o senhor, Acc: o, Dat: lhe, Refl se, Disj: o senhor
Plur: Nom: vocês, Acc: os, as/vos, Dat: lhes/vos, Refl: se, Disj: vocês
Plur: Nom: os senhores, Acc: os/vos, Dat: lhes/vos, Refl: se, Disj os
senhores
plus feminine forms for the pronouns in 'senhor'. 'Vos' properly
belongs to the archaic 2nd person pronoun 'vós' and the other
accusative and dative forms are 3rd person pronouns.
Does the usage of Persian _bande_ 'slave' in place of the first person
subject pronoun offer an even better parallel. I know it requires 1st
person verb endings, but I'm not sure whether it also replaces the
object pronoun.
Richard.