Right peripheral pronouns in Afrikaans

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cataphor
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Real Name:Andreas
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Right peripheral pronouns in Afrikaans

Postby cataphor » 2013-08-20, 9:52

Dear speakers of Afrikaans,

I'm doing some research on a structure which is pretty common in the world's languages, and it looks like the example in (1) to (6) which is from some dialect of English:

(1) [Talking about some sort of potatoes] They cook fast, them.
(2) She's a liar, her.
(3) I payed him, me.
(4) That's great, that!
(5) We met Lisa at the train station, her.
(6) Mary talked to Peter last saturday night, to him.

What I'd like to know is whether your language allows for a similiar construction. That is, do you - in colloquial conversation - place pronouns in the end of the sentence that correlate to some referent in the preceding clause? If so, I would be pleased if you could give an example. They don't need to fit the examples above regarding the content.

I would also like to know what form the pronoun takes. So, in (1) to (5), the pronouns at the end are all in accusative or "tonic" form. Moreover, if you change the role of the correlating element, e.g. make it an object, does the case of the pronoun change? The relevant examples would be (5), where the correlate is a direct object, and (6), where it is an indirect object.

Connected to this, how would the answers to the question in (7), (8), and (9) look like?

(7) Who wants some ice cream? --
(a) Me!
(b) Her!
(c) Him!
(d) Us!
(e) Them!

(8) Who did Mary see at the train station? --
(a) Me!
(b) Her!
(c) Him!
(d) Us!
(e) Them!

(9) Who did Peter give the money to? --
(a) To me!
(b) To her!
(c) To him!
(d) To us!
(e) To them!


I would be very happy if you could help me out with that. If you like, I could also acknowledge your contribution by naming you in the paper. For further questions, feel free to ask. You can also contact me under andrea06@uni-potsdam.de. Below, you can find a template for the answers since, I guess, it would be annoying to number them yourself.

Best regards,
Andreas Schmidt

(7)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

(8)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

(9)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

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Shiba
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Re: Right peripheral pronouns in Afrikaans

Postby Shiba » 2013-08-20, 17:39

cataphor wrote:What I'd like to know is whether your language allows for a similiar construction. That is, do you - in colloquial conversation - place pronouns in the end of the sentence that correlate to some referent in the preceding clause?

Afrikaans doesn't "repeat" pronouns as in 1-6. In Afrikaans we would just say "She's a liar.", etc.
cataphor wrote:Connected to this, how would the answers to the question in (7), (8), and (9) look like?


In 7, the answers would be in the nominative kind of form, i.e.:

(7) Wie wil roomys hê? (Wie is lus vir roomys?)
(a) Ek!
(b) Sy!
(c) Hy!
(d) Ons!
(e) Hulle!
To be honest, I've always been rather puzzled as to why English does it differently. Modern English grammar seems to me to be erroneous in that regard.

8 is a bit tough to answer. It would probably be correct to say that the pronouns would be in accusative form, but it sounds somewhat unnatural. We would most probably add "vir" (for) to our answers, and then put the pronouns in accusative form, and answer as such:

(8) (Vir) Wie het Mary by die treinstasie gesien? [As you see, the question might begin with "Wie" (who) or with "Vir wie" (which is more like saying "whom").]
(a) Vir my!
(b) Vir haar!
(c) Vir hom!
(d) Vir ons!
(e) Vir hulle!

In 9, the verbs would be in accusative form:

(9) Aan wie het Peter die geld gegee?
(a) Aan my!
(b) Aan haar!
(c) Aan hom!
(d) Aan ons!
(e) Aan hulle!

Hope this helps.
Native: Afrikaans (af) English (en) || Intermediate: German (de) || Beginner: Some odd combination of Riksmål and Bokmål and whatever (no) || Learning on-and-off: Russian (ru) || Curious: Breton (br) Welsh (cy) Finnish (fi)
Korrigere feilene mine, vær så snill!

Die HERE is my herder; niks sal my ontbreek nie. ~ Psalm 23:1

cataphor
Posts:53
Joined:2013-03-06, 9:48
Real Name:Andreas
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Right peripheral pronouns in Afrikaans

Postby cataphor » 2013-08-21, 9:06

Thank you very much for your reply! It was most helpful. Just another short question, can you say something like (1) (from Dutch) in Afrikaans, where the part in boldface is uttered with low and flat intonation?

(1) Joop heeft ze al gezien, die nieuwe tablet-pc’s. (Ott & De Vries, 2012)

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Shiba
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Re: Right peripheral pronouns in Afrikaans

Postby Shiba » 2013-08-22, 8:38

Glad to help. :)
Yes, you could say something like (1). It's a common turn of phrase in Afrikaans.
Native: Afrikaans (af) English (en) || Intermediate: German (de) || Beginner: Some odd combination of Riksmål and Bokmål and whatever (no) || Learning on-and-off: Russian (ru) || Curious: Breton (br) Welsh (cy) Finnish (fi)
Korrigere feilene mine, vær så snill!

Die HERE is my herder; niks sal my ontbreek nie. ~ Psalm 23:1


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