Datapoint Belizean Creole/Nominal plural marker and third-person-plural pronoun

Dey and dem occur as 3PL pronouns in subject position, but dem and em vary in object position. Dem also functions as nominal plural. In this case, it can either be preposed (Example 48) or postposed (Example 51) to the noun.

Values

Overlap

Example 9-48:
Sam a dem bway wuda gu awt.
Sam
some
a
of
dem
pl
bway
boy
wuda
would
gu
go
awt.
out
Some of the boys want to go out.

Source: Escure 1983: 36

Example 9-50:
Dey no wan du it.
Dey
3pl
no
neg
wan
want
du
do
it.
it
They don't want to do it.

Source: Escure 1992

Example 9-51:
Di kwaat badl dem we yu de luk fa da no sumtin we drif.
Di
the
kwaat
quart
badl
bottle
dem
pl
we
rel
yu
2sg
de
hab
luk
look
fa
for
da
top
no
neg
sumtin
something
we
rel
drif.
drift
The bottles that you look for, that's not something that drifts.

Source: Escure 1983: 33

Confidence:
Certain