Chapter 20: Pronoun conjunction
1. Expressing conjunction (‘and’)⇫¶
The notion of conjunction (‘A and B’) is most straight-forwardly expressed in languages by simple juxtaposition (A B), or by a construction with an overt coordinator (A and B) that links both conjuncts. In other chapters of this work, we ask whether the coordinator is also used to mark comitative participants (Chapter 71), or whether the same marking is used for coordinating nominal and verbal expressions (Chapter 72).
In this chapter, we focus on the expression of conjunction in cases when one of the conjuncts is a personal pronoun, because in such cases, some languages use a special inclusory construction (Lichtenberk 2000), as illustrated in (1a-c) from different non-APiCS languages.
Inclusory constructions express conjunction and are rendered by ‘A and B’ in English, but they do this by means of a strategy that does not involve addition, but inclusion: One element of the construction (the inclusory pronoun) expresses the total set of participants, while the other element (the subset NP) expresses a proper subset of the participants. The resulting meaning is clearest in example (1c), where the inclusory pronoun means ‘we (exclusive) two’, and Jack is one subset. The other, complementary subset must therefore be ‘I’ (‘Jack and I’, i.e. we two). In (1a) and (1b), it is not so clear what the other subset is, because the pronouns are plural pronouns and the languages do not have duals. Thus, (1b) could mean ‘father and I’ or ‘father and we’. But what is crucial is that one possible meaning is ‘father and I’, showing clearly that we are dealing with an inclusory construction, not a regular coordination construction. The inclusory pronoun is thus always a nonsingular pronoun, and it can be first, second or third person.
Among the APiCS languages, 13 languages make use of a kind of inclusory construction. We distinguish five values overall, among them three different kinds of inclusory construction.
| excl | shrd | all | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Singular pronoun overtly conjoined with other conjunct | 55 | 12 | 67 |
 | Inclusory pronoun juxtaposed with subset NP | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 | Inclusory pronoun plus marker plus subset NP | 1 | 7 | 8 |
 | Inclusory pronoun plus numeral plus subset NP | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 | Singular pronoun juxtaposed with other conjunct | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Representation: | 69 | |||
The contributors were asked to concentrate on constructions with a first person pronoun, and with a subset noun phrase expressed by a personal name.
2. Conjunction with overt coordinator ⇫ ¶
In most of the APiCS languages, just as in most of the European lexifiers, the only possibility is to coordinate pronouns and noun phrases by means of an overt coordinator between the two conjuncts (value 1), i.e. in the same way as two full noun phrases. Some examples are given in (2).
(Interestingly, in the majority of examples the first person pronoun precedes the other conjunct, unlike in English, where it follows it.)
3. Inclusory pronoun juxtaposed with subset noun phrase ⇫ ¶
In the first type of inclusory construction (value 2), the inclusory pronoun is juxtaposed with the subset noun phrase. This is found in Kriol and Gurindji Kriol, and is evidently influenced by the indigenous Australian languages, where this type is common (see 1c above, and Singer (2001)).
As we see, the inclusory pronoun may precede or follow the subset NP. The only other APiCS language with a juxtapositional inclusory construction is Tok Pisin:
However, in Tok Pisin this is a minority pattern; the overtly conjoined construction (mi na Tomas [I and Thomas]) is more common. As in the Australian APiCS languages, it is clear that this pattern is due to substrate influence: In many Oceanic languages of the area, a construction of this type is attested, e.g. (5)
4. Inclusory pronoun plus marker plus subset NP ⇫ ¶
A more common type of inclusory construction (value 3) involves a marker between the inclusory pronoun and the subset NP, as in the examples in (6).
In all these cases, the inclusory pronoun precedes the marker and the subset NP, and the marker is identical to the 'with' preposition in the language. This is a very widespread pattern that is also found in European languages (e.g. in Russian, as we saw in 1b). It is particularly common in African languages, and Lingala shows the typical Bantu pattern. The Angolar construction is clearly due to its West African substrate. In view of the frequency of this construction in African languages, one could have expected to find it in more of the Atlantic creoles, but for some reason it does not seem to have been carried over very often.
5. Inclusory pronoun plus numeral plus subset NP ⇫ ¶
Two languages have an inclusory construction with a numeral 'two' between the two elements of the inclusory construction (value 4). This construction is common in Seychelles Creole (cf. 7a), but marginal in Reunion Creole (cf. 7b).
While this construction is similar to the inclusory constructions in Australian, Oceanic and African languages, its origin clearly lies in dialectal French: In many varieties of French (especially in the north of France), this construction is possible as well (e.g. nous deux mon chien 'my dog and I'; this is not acceptable in Standard French, see Tesnière 1951).
6. Singular pronoun juxtaposed with other conjunct ⇫ ¶
One language allows a simple juxtaposition construction without overt marker (value 5): In Pidgin Hindustani, one can say ham Biju [I Biju] for 'Biju and I', though an overt marker is possible as well (ham aur Vesu [I and Vesu] 'Vesu and I').