Animacy: Difference between revisions

Any noun phrase belongs to one of nine '''classes''', each with its own word for “he/she/they/it” that refers back to the most recent noun phrase belonging to that class. (This system of anaphoric pronouns is the ''only'' place in Toaq where this animacy distinction comes up, so the classes are known varyingly as '''animacy classes''', '''anaphora classes''', or '''pronominal classes'''.)

Toaq's pronouns work the same way: if you describe a person as {{t|sa sảo}}, the appropriate pronoun to refer to them later in the sentence is {{t|tá}}, because {{t|sảo}} is an adjective. It's not correct to use {{t|hó}}, because that's the pronoun for animate ''verbs'', not animate referents.

! Nr. !! Class !! Pronoun !! Example

| 0 || ({{t|raı}} alone) || ({{t|ráı}}) || {{t|sa rảı}}

| I || Animate verbs || {{t|hó}} || {{t|sa pỏq}}

| II || Inanimate verbs || {{t|máq}} || {{t|sa jỉo}}

| III || Abstract verbs || {{t|hóq}} || {{t|sa sỉo}}

| IV || Adjective verbs || {{t|tá}} || {{t|sa dẻ}}

| V || {{tone|5}} clauses || {{t|róu}} || {{t|dûa jí sıa rảı}}

| VI || {{t|lu}} phrases || {{t|kúy}} || {{t|lú tảo jí hóa}}

| VII || {{t|po}} phrases || {{t|zé}} || {{t|pó sa gỉ}}

| VIII || Personal pronouns || {{t|fúy}} || {{t|nháo}}

| IX || Demonstratives || {{t|bóu}} || {{t|ní}}

* If the verb necessarily implies animacy of its subject, it's in '''class I''' ({{t|hó}}).

* Examples: {{t|poq, naq, kato, che, be, deo, mıe…}}

* Examples: {{t|cea, kıoq, haq, toq, nao, hoe…}}

* Examples: {{t|noı, daq, dao, sıo, muı, zu…}}

* Other verbs are '''class 4'' ({{t|tá}}).

* Examples: {{t|doq, nuı, juı, lıo, muo, raq, daı, de…}}

(TODO: what is the animacy class of verbs that imply action or thought of the subject? I think they're class I also, but I'm not sure. {{t|koı, moı, tao, fıeq, jaı…}}?)