View source for Pronoun structure

What inner '''structure''' do pronouns have? If [[pronoun]]s are [[DP]]s, then where's the determiner? And what's up with this {{t|súna lıq}} = "you girls" construct?

== High-level overview ==
As a casual learner of Toaq, all you need to know about this proposal is this:

* We can think of pronouns as determiners, and allow things like {{t|jí Toaqpoq}} = "a Toaqpoq such as me".
* This means the same thing as {{t|jí}} but presupposes that the speaker is a Toaqpoq.

== Underlying [[syntax]] ==
=== Personal pronouns ===
Officially, we know that ⟦ {{t|jí}} ⟧<sup>g,c</sup> = speaker(c).

We can imagine {{t|jí}}<sub>DP</sub> as consisting of a determiner {{t|jí}}<sub>D</sub> and a null ''n''P.

Then by analogy with regular determiners, ⟦ {{t|jí}}<sub>D</sub> ⟧<sup>g,c</sup> is <math>\lambda P: P(\textrm{speaker}(c)). \textrm{speaker}(c)</math>.

To draw this analogy further, it's tempting to say that the ''n''P is just the same "covert {{t|raı}}" that can be seen (or unseen) after other determiners.

But then the idea of allowing {{t|jí Toaqpoq}} to mean "a Toaqpoq such as me" practically suggests itself! This denotes the speaker, and presupposes that they are a Toaqpoq.

There's a similar grammatical structure in English: in a sentence like "Will ''you jerks'' shut up?" the word "jerks" doesn't limit the domain of "you" but merely adds a presupposition.

=== Anaphoric pronouns ===
Officially, we know that ⟦ {{t|hó}}<sub>i</sub> ⟧<sup>g,c</sup> = g(i).

We can imagine {{t|hó}}<sub>DP</sub> as consisting of a determiner {{t|hó}}<sub>D</sub> and a null ''n''P.

Then by analogy with regular determiners, ⟦ {{t|hó}}<sub>i,D</sub> ⟧<sup>g,c</sup> is <math>\lambda P: P(g(i)). g(i)</math><ref>Or maybe throw in an animacy presupposition? <math>\lambda P: P(g(i)) \wedge \textrm{animate}(g(i)). g(i)</math></ref>. This is just the official denotation of bound-the. But the difference (I think) is that the index is now "calculated" or "bound" rather than generated by the ''n''P.

I don't think it's as tempting to allow constructions like {{t|hó Toaqpoq}}, but there's also no harm in being consistent.

[[Category:Proposals]]

== Footnotes ==
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