Pronominal Syntax

15.1 Personal Pronouns

Nominative case personal pronouns are frequently omitted if the verb makes it clear what the subject is. They are more frequently used with past tense verbs (which do not encode person) and non-declining verbal forms, such as adverbial participles. The third person nominative pronouns are avoided whenever possible, even in the past, and are generally only found for emphasis or contrast (and even when used for those reasons, they will often be replaced by the topical pronoun то). Pronouns in any other case are not optional unless they have been topicalized.

Яс iás “I” is pronounced /ja/ before fricative consonants (i.e., the /s/ is dropped), although this is not indicated in spelling. In highly-formal situations, this variant will often be pronounced [jah], with the original /s/ preserved only as a slight aspiration.

The oblique third person pronouns have a peculiarity not seen elsewhere. Forms beginning with a vowel or /j/ acquire an epenthetic /n/ when following a preposition: о нево o nevó “at him”. When the preposition has both a vowelled and an unvowelled form (со, во, ко), the /n/ will instead be added to the preposition: сон ему son iemú “with him”.

15.2 Possessive Adjectives

The Novegradian possessive adjectives perform both adjectival (“my”, “your”, “our”, etc) and pronominal (“mine”, “yours”, “ours”) functions. They must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. Possessive adjectives must precede any adjectives modifying the same noun, unless they are on the opposite side of that noun (мой старе возе, мой возе старе, возе мой старе, and also старе возе мой “my old car”, but never **старе мой возе). They have no distinct topicalized form.

The third person possessive adjectives, although identical to some of the oblique forms of the third person pronouns, do not undergo the same alternations. They never acquire an epenthetic /n/ (о ево провезора o ievó provezóra “at his professor”), but still cause an /n/ to appear on the prepositions во, со, and ко (сон ево провезорем son ievó provezórem “with his professor”).

Normally the rules for the placement of possessive adjectives are quite fluid, but in one situation their position is fixed. When modifying a kinship term (outlined in the appendix) or the word друге drúge “friend”, they must be placed after the noun: тата мой “my father”, never *мой тата.

On the whole, possessive adjectives are not used as frequently as in English and other languages. If it is clear who the possessor is, than there is no need to indicate it.

In less formal language (that is to say, outside of business, government, and news media), possessive pronouns are less frequently used ¹ . In their place are the phrases о мене o mené, о тебе o tebé, etc, the same as used for indicating possession in place of a verb “to have” (at + genitive case). These phrases are positioned after the noun: возе о мене vóze o mené “my car”. This is most common for nouns in the nominative case, though not exclusively so, relagating the former possessive adjectives largely to oblique cases. This is common in informal and semiformal writing, including in many modern non-academic books.

For the most part the possessive adjectives and the о мене construction are fully interchangeable; however, the о мене construction cannot be used to describe “upward” family relationships, while “downward” or “equal” relationships may use either. That is, **мати о мене máti o mené “my mother” is unacceptable, while докьи о мене dókji o mené “my daughter” is fine.

In English, a plural possessive with plural possessed noun has an ambiguous meaning. For example, “their cars” could mean that each person has one car (and is thus equivalent to “his car + her car + ...”), that each has multiple cars (equivalent to “his cars + her cars + ...”), or that several people share several common cars (equivalent to “their car + their car + ...”). There are therefore four combinations of a plural possessor and any noun with distinct meanings:

1. their car (multiple people share a single common car)
2. their cars (multiple people share several common cars)
3. their cars (each person has one car)
4. their cars (each person has multiple cars)

Standard Novegradian, however, groups senses 1 and 3 together, and 2 and 4 together. 1 and 3 (where each possessor or collective possessor has a single instance of the possessed item) are expressed with a singular noun, while 2 and 4 (where each possessor or collective possessor has multiple items) use a plural noun.

1. ех возе iéh vóze (multiple people share a single common car)
2. ех вози iéh vózi (multiple people share several common cars)
3. ех возе iéh vóze (each person has one car)
4. ех вози iéh vózi (each person has multiple cars)

This ambiguity is removed entirely in the colloquial language, where the distributive senses (3 and 4) require the distributive particle по po: ех по возе/и iéh po vóze/i.

15.3 Reflexive Pronouns

Novegradian has a single reflexive pronoun and reflexive possessive adjective used to refer back to the subject of a sentence. They are used in all persons.

Whereas English can repeat a possessive adjective so that a sentence contains multiple explicit references to the subject (e.g., “I am reading my book”), Novegradian requires the use of the reflexive pronoun or adjective whenever the subject is referenced: Яс цидам суою нигу Iás cidám suoiú nígu. This also has the effect of creating a fourth person in certain contexts:

Оне цидаст суою нигу.
Óne cidást suoiú nígu.
“He is reading his [own] book” (reflexive adjective points back to subject)

Оне цидаст ево нигу.
Óne cidást ievó nígu.
“He is reading his [somone else’s] book” (non-reflexive adjective cannot refer to subject, another participant is inferred)

Again, in non-formal situations, о шебе o śebé can be used, but this is less common.

The reflexive possessive adjectives can, in certain sentences, be used to refer to a noun that is not technically the subject, but is viewed as being the logical agent. This is especially common in possessive constructions.

15.4 Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative adjective ше śé functions in much the same way as the possessive adjectives, agreeing in gender, case, and number with the noun it modifies. When used as a pronoun instead of an adjective, the neuter form must be used if singular, and the plural if plural.

No distinction between “this” and “that” is formally made. If it is necessary to express one over the other and context is not sufficient, an adverbial modifier may be used: ша суде нига śá sudé níga “this book [here]”, ша тамо нига śá támo níga “that book [there]”. Alternatively, the distal can be expressed using the base *он-: она нига oná níga “that book”. Both methods are frequently seen.

The adjective саме sáme “same” generally calls for a demonstrative adjective (“that same X”). While not a requirement, it has become so common that many sentences may seem awkward without it.

The same may be said of the expression ше суой śé suói, meaning “one’s own”:

The topicalized demonstratives ше-то śé-to and оно-то onó-to (a fossilized neuter form of the pronoun он-) are used to mean “the latter” and “the former” respectively. Ше-то declines just like ше “this” with -то tacked onto the end of every form, while оно-то declines like оне “he” with the exception of this nominative form and the inanimate accusative, and the fact that it does not acquire n- after prepositions. Unlike in English, the standard order is “the latter” followed by “the former”.

15.5 Absolute Pronouns

The absolute pronouns are used whenever personal or demonstrative pronouns appear in isolation, the verb that they are the subject of having been dropped.

15.6 Interrogative Pronouns

15.6.1 Pronominal Interrogatives

Novegradian has two pronominally-declining interrogative pronouns: цой cói and хой hói, meaning “what” and “who” respectively. The former is used to substitute for inanimate nouns, and the latter for animate nouns. There is no gender or number distinction, and they are generally placed toward the beginning of the sentence.

Хой calls for masculine singular agreement. Цой requires neuter singular agreement.

However, if the speaker expects a plural answer, both may optionally be replaced by котрие kótrije “which ones?”.

Multiple questions are always placed together, unlike in English, and tend to be fronted.

The suffix -ж -ź (or -иж -iź after /j/, or -же -źe after another consonant) is attached to a pronoun to emphasize it (compare English “what?” and “what in the world?”, or less polite variants). It is most commonly seen on хой and цой, which become хоиж hójiź and цоиж cójiź.

15.6.2 Adjectival Interrogatives

Novegradian has four adjectival interrogatives, which decline as adjectives and must agree with the noun they modify.

Котре kótre means “which”, and has both indefinite and definite forms. It is used to select a single noun out of a group. Note that it is also equivalent to English “what” immediately followed by a noun.

Каде kadé means “what kind”, and also has both indefinite and definite forms. It also has a non-interrogative exclamatory function, equivalent to English “What a...!”

Какове kákove also means “what kind”, and is largely interchangeable with каде. However, it cannot be used exclamatorily, so Каковое шеден поврѣме? is grammatical, but **Каковей красней дум-от is not. Both каде and какове are in common use.

Кей kéi is a generic emphatic interrogative, which can be translated many ways in English, but often as “what”. It is always definite (кей kéi, кая káia, кое kóie, кие kíje, etc), although the noun it modifies does not need to be topicalized. It is similar to the emphatic цоиж, although it tends to have a more menacing, demeaning, or sarcastic connotation. For example, Цоиж суде пробуивало? Cójiź sudé probuiválo? means “What happened here?” and is more of an expression of shock, while Кое ше? Kóie śé? “What is this?” tends to sound angrier.

15.6.3 Non-Declining Interrogatives

Non-decling interrogatives include adverbial interrogatives (which do not affect nouns around them) and an interrogative determiner (which modifies a noun, but forces it to agree with itself).

Adverbial interrogatives include куде kudé “where”, куди kudí “to where”, оскуд oskúd “from where”, койда kóida “when”, зацем zácem “why”, and како káko “how”.

The sole interrogative determiner in Novegradian is колкѣ kólkě “how many, how much”. The noun that follows it must always be in the partitive case. Verbs agree with whatever the number of the noun is.

Како káko may be followed by an indefinite adjective to indicate “how X is...?”

15.7 Indefinite and Negative Pronouns

The indefinite and negative pronouns are formed fairly regularly from the interrogative pronouns or adjectives. Indefinite pronouns (“some-X”) involve the suffix -ш (related to the demonstrative ше) and negative pronouns (“no-X”) involve the prefix не-. All have neuter singular agreement, except for кош kóś “someone” and неке néke “no one”, which have masculine singular agreement. Novegradian has phrasal polarity agreement, so if negative pronouns are present, the verb must also be negated.

The interrogative pronouns by themselves, without any affixes, can be used to represent a wider degree of indefinite pronouns (“any-X”). Хой and цой decline as normal, and indeclinable pronouns naturally do not decline.

However, negative verbs are not needed if the negated element is non-nominative, as in example 24 below.

The exception to the above rule is that if the negated element is the object of a prepositional phrase, the negative copula is needed as the pronoun cannot be negated directly.

The negated neuter form of кей, некое nékoie, is used as an emphatic way of saying “nothing”. The genitive form негаево negáievo exists in free variation.

There are two indefinite forms that mean “some, a bit, a few, several” (quantitatively) when modifying a noun. Нѣколкѣ ně́kolkě indicates an indefinite number whose true value is to some degree up to chance. For example, if you ask someone to bring “a few” bottles of water, you have no way of knowing at that moment how many will actually be brought, because there is no set value. The noun following нѣколкѣ must be in the partitive plural, no matter its function in the sentence. Нѣколкѣ, like многе “many”, is indeclinable, but is considered as being the bearer of the (invisible) case markings. Only count nouns may be used, never mass nouns (which would just use the partitive alone).

The adjective нѣкотре ně́kotre also means “some”, but is used when either the actual quantity is known to the speaker but is not being mentioned (as in example 28) or is unknown to be the speaker, but is still a set value (as in example 29). If they are the subject or direct object, both the adjective and the noun it modifies will be in the partitive plural (as in 28 and 29). If in any other position (including after a prepositon requiring the accusative case), the adjective will be definite, singular, and in whatever case the situation would normally call for, and the noun will be in the partitive plural (as in example 30).

Where English requires an indefinite article and a broad categorical term, Novegradian frequently uses the adjective каде-ш kadé-ś “some sort of”. This stresses that a member of the class is intended, not the entire class:

15.8 Relative Pronouns

Novegradian has three primary relative pronoun constructions: котре kótre, какове kákove, and то-це/то-ко tó-ce/tó-ko.

15.8.1 Котре

Котре is used to tie a relative clause to a noun, much like English “that”, “which”, or “who(m)”. It is placed immediately after the noun being modified, and agrees with it in gender, number, and topicalization/definiteness only. The case it takes derives not from the noun it is modifying, but rather from its function in the relative clause. In writing, a comma is placed between the main clause and the relative clause containing котре.

This sort of usage can frequently be replaced by a participle, as both participles and котре are frequently used for subordination. However, there are some situations where a participle could not be used properly. This includes situations where a perfective active participle would be needed, which Novegradian lacks:

If the noun is the object of a preposition in the relative clause, котре also must be used. The preposition will be moved in front of котре, and since котре is now separated from the noun it modifies by a preposition, it must appear in its definite form.

15.8.2 Какове

Какове, known as the qualitative relative pronoun, is similar to котре in its function, but quite different in its meaning. While котре links a clause to a noun, какове links a clause to a class of noun, of which the noun being modified is an example. See examples 35 and 36 below to see how it works.

These sorts of phrases can easily be reworded using котре and a noun such as класе kláse “class” or роде róde “kind, sort”, but doing so is substandard style, and generally a mark of non-native speakers.

15.8.3 Relative Pronouns Filling Multiple Gaps

If the clause subordinated by котре or какове has multiple verbs, a single relative pronoun may serve as an argument of both verbs if the case called for by both verbs is the same. If the cases are different, the pronoun must be repeated.

If the prepositions are not identical, the pronoun must be repeated as well, even if the cases are the same.

If the required cases are different, but the surface form of the pronoun is identical for each, a single pronoun generally may be used.

However, there is one important exception. Even if the cases are identical and there are no prepositions involved, if one is semantically “agent-like” and the other “patient-like”, a single pronoun may not be used. In example 42 below, for example, the “girl” is a patient-like argument relative to “give”, but an agent-like argument relative to “be cold”.

15.8.4 То-це/То-ко

The last kind of relativizer in Novegradian is a phrase consisting of the relative pronoun то (considered part of the main clause) and an interrogative form (often це or ко, part of the subordinate clause), brought together as a single hypenated word. This method is used whenever there is no noun present to attach a relative clause to, such as Вѣм то-це прийдет Vě́m tó-ce prijdét “I know that he will come”. In this sentence, the first half, то, appears in the accusative singular as the object of вѣсти “know”, and the second half in the nominative singular. The same construction is used to express phrases such as “that which”, “those who”. The second half only declines when the concept represented by то functions as something other than the subject of the subject in the subordinate clause: ти-ково оне не видѣле “those whom he did not see”.

Sometimes the meaning can be somewhat ambiguous, generally the result of the nominative and accusative case forms of це being identical:

• Вѣм то-це оне думаст.
  Vě́m tó-ce óne dúmast.
  “I know that he is thinking”, structured as [I know it][that he is thinking]. Here то is in the accusative case and це is in the nominative.
• Вѣм то-це оне думаст.
  Vě́m tó-ce óne dúmast.
  “I know what he is thinking” or “I know that which he is thinking”, structured are [I know][that which][he is thinking]. Here both то and це are in the accusative case (since “that which” is the object of thinking), but the form is identical because це is identical in both the nominative and accusative cases.

The difference between the two examples above is established through context and differing intonation. In the first example, emphasis is on the fact that he is thinking, so думаст will have a stronger sentence-level stress on it. In the latter, emphasis is on whatever he is thinking about, so то-це will receive a stronger sentence stress.

The two halves can only be separated by a preposition modifying the second half: ти со кем оне говориле tí so kém óne govoríle “those with whom he was speaking”.

Other interrogative elements may be used in the second half, although they are much less common: не вѣст то-како ше дѣлати ne vě́st to-káko śé dě́lati “He doesn’t know how to do this”. In this situation, како by itself may work just as well.

15.9 ‘Each Other’

There are two ways of expressing “each other”: verbally or pronominally.

Many middle-voice verbs with a plural subject inherently mean “each other”: Ондуа препизовасташ Onduá prepizovástaś “The two of them are writing each other, corresponding”. This is not true of all verbs, though: Ондуа миеташ Onduá míjetaś “The two of them are washing [themselves]”.

More commonly, the two-part reciprocal pronoun друх друга drúh drúga is used. The first part is unchanging, and represents a subject. The second part declines (fourth declension animate singular) to whatever case the other individual (who is not the subject) would be in. Prepositions may be placed in between the two halves, but the second half will have to be in whatever case that preposition requires.

15.10 Redundant Pronouns

When the subject of a sentence is a third person dual or plural pronoun, whether implicit or explicit, it is common to further specify the relationship between the individuals being referred to using the construction noun.nom with noun.datins. The first noun is always singular, while the second may be singular or plural. The two nouns are almost always closely associated semantically. This construction is frequently used even if the relationship is already clearly established contextually, and tends to be located after the verb.

Novegradian also makes frequent use of resumptive pronouns. When a compound phrase with two or more independent clauses is relativized, resumptive pronouns are often, though not necessarily, left in the place of the displaced relative pronoun for all verbs after the first. If the antecedent is topicalized, the form то tó is used; if it is not topicalized, regular personal pronouns are used.

15.11 Еноке/Енка

The gendered quasi-pronouns еноке iénoke (masculine singular), енка iénka (feminine singular), and енки iénki (plural) do not translate directly into English. The closest equivalent is “the other one[s]” or “the rest [of us/you/them]”, when there is a specific person or people in mind. They decline as regular first (енка) or fourth (еноке/енки) declension animate nouns.

These pronouns are used far more frequently than “the others” is in English, and is pretty much the standard way of referring to other people within a particular defined group.

The definite adjective видорей/видорая/видорие vidórei/vidóraia/vidórije “[the] other[s]” cannot be substituted without a change in meaning. Еноке and its variants refer to a closed group of people, while видорей refer to an open, indefinite set. If видорих were substituted in example sentence 51 above, it would mean “We are waiting for two more people”, that is, any two people rather than two specific people. If видорие were substituted in sentence 52, it would mean “We agree with you, but other people do not”—again with a more indefinite sense. Видорая in sentence 53 would be nonsensical, perhaps like asking “Where is someone?”.