Articles, Personal Pronouns and Politeness

With very few exceptions, every referent in an Early Modern Holic conversation or text, human or otherwise, must be marked for social status. In the case of the speaker and the addressee, the marking occurs at every mention: all the first and second person pronouns have it built in. The third person pronouns do not, but when a third person referent is first introduced an ‘article’ is required which, among other things, establishes a status. The status need not thereafter be mentioned unless it is changed; different speakers may assign different statuses to the same referent.

Articles

The articles are in form adjectives, and are distinguished only by their behaviour (they always come last in a noun phrase; they are compulsory when introducing a new referent and thereafter obligatorily absent except to change the status of the referent, which is done by combining the article with something overtly anaphoric). Note that this behaviour means that the article functions similarly, though not identically, to the English indefinite article. Some cases of divergence: the article is used with proper nouns and with names of unique objects (contrast English the moon); the article is never used in such cases as John is a doctor.

Articles distinguish whether or not the referent is a person (including nymphs and gods). This can be important: vombes sinjí is a wolf, while Vombes pavnjí is a man named Wolf. Hol sqi is the river Hol, Hol miméy is the nymph of the Hol and Hol sji is a woman named after the Hol.

Determining Rank

Every referent has a (usually obvious) basic rank. One can always refer to it by a higher rank or a lower one within its class (that is, in the same column on the table below); a promotion is complementary or flattering (but is likely to be seen as sarcastic if it exceeds one level); a demotion is derogatory or insulting (a demotion by two ranks is a grave insult and by three ranks is a mortal one: don't expect to do this and survive, given that the object of your insult must necessarily be of noble rank or higher!).

The base rank for almost all non-persons is +0. Certain things considered inherently worthy, such as the gifts of the gods (e.g. writing) are +1, as are certain unique things (the sun and moon), things which have a strong association with a very highly ranked person (such as sovereign states), and often outstanding examples of things (the city of Olgul, the river Hol, the University of Olgul): cf. English the City, the moon. The sort of thing one can't mention in polite company has a base rank of -1. There is only a range of three ranks with non-persons.

Persons have a range of four ranks (females) or five (males). The dividing lines are sometimes vague, because certain people are customarily referred to respectfully sufficiently often that they almost slip up a rank; this can vary by context (e.g. a master singer is likely to be referred to as +1 at a concert but +0 normally). In the following chart, I try to show people according to declining certainty of their being in the class. Those shown in parentheses are not always of at least that base rank.

Rank	Male	Female
+2	Gods, kings [unless maybe of a small pagan state], some patriarchs of the Church
+1	Noblemen, priests, wizards, (wrights [but increasingly they are only +0], guildmasters, masters of their crafts)	Nymphs, queens, wives of patriarchs
+0	Most adult males, sons of men of high rank	Ladies, wives of men of rank +1, (mistresses of their crafts)
-1	Boys, male slaves	Most women, girls, female slaves*
-2	[No one has this base rank; is is used only pejoratively.]

Declension Tables

The following chart shows which articles to use. Note that there is some dialectal variation in the matter of female slaves; they take sji in the standard language but ranjí in wide usage, especially in the colonies.

Rank	Male Person	Female Person		Non-Person
		Child	Adult
+2	tjesjyí
+1	zinjéy	miméy		zqi
+0	pavúy	sjisí		si
-1	ranjí *		sji	bizqí
-2	zjesjí

The articles are declined in full below.

		F Sg	N Sg	M Sg	F Pl	M Pl
tjesjyí	A	tjesjyí	tjesjyí	tjesjnjí	tjesjúy	tjesjyáz
	E	tjesjú	tjesjyív	tjesvú	tjesjúv	tjesjyáv
	M	tjisetsjá	tjesjísj	tjisjeysjá	tjesjúsj	tjesjyát
	G	tjisjé	tjesjyí	tjisjé	tjesjó	tjesjyá
zinjéy	A	zinjéy	zinjí	zinjnjí	zinjvúy	zinjáz
	E	zinjvú	zinjeyvú	zinjvú	zinjvúv	zinjáv
	M	zinjsjá	zinjeysjá	zinjesjá	zinjvúsj	zinját
	G	zinjé	zinjí	zinjé	zinqzqó	zinjá
miméy	A	miméy	memí	memnjí	memvúy	memáz
	E	memvú	mimeyvú	memvú	memvúv	memáv
	M	memsjá	mimeysjá	mimeysjá	memvúsj	memát
	G	mimé	memí	mimé	memzqó	memá
zqi	A	zqi	zqií	zqinjí	zqivúy	zqiáz
	E	zqivú	zqivú	zqivú	zqivúv	zqiáv
	M	zqisjá	zqisjá	zqisjá	zqivúsj	zqiát
	G	zqi	zqií	zqo	zqizqó	zqiá
pavúy	A	pavúy	paví	pavnjí	pavvúy	paváz
	E	pavvú	pavuyvú	pavvú	pavvúv	paváv
	M	pavsjá	pavuysjá	pavusjá	pavvúsj	pavát
	G	pavú	pavó	pavó	pavzqó	pavá
sjisí	A	sjisí	sjií	sjinjí	sjivúy	sjiáz
	E	sjiú	sjivú	sjivú	sjivúv	sjiáv
	M	sjisjá	sjisjá	sjisjá	sjivúsj	sjiát
	G	sji	sjií	sjo	sjizqó	sjiá
si	A	si	sií	sinjí	sivúy	siáz
	E	sivú	sivú	sivú	sivúv	siáv
	M	sisjá	sisjá	sisjá	sivúsj	siát
	G	si	sií	so	sizqó	siá
ranjí	A	ranjí	ranjí	ranjí	ravúy	ranáz
	E	ravú	ranjív	ravú	ravúv	ranáv
	M	rasjá	ranjísj	rasjá	ravúsj	ranát
	G	ra	ranjí	ra	razqó	raná
sji	A	sji	sjií	sjinjí	sjivúy	sjiáz
	E	sjivú	sjivú	sjivú	sjivúv	sjiáv
	M	sjisjá	sjisjá	sjisjá	sjivúsj	sjiát
	G	sji	sjií	sjo	sjizqó	sjiá
bizqí	A	bizqí	bizqí	bizqnjí	bizqvúy	bizqáz
	E	bizqvú	bizqivú	bizqvú	bizqvúv	bizqáv
	M	bizjsjá	bizqisjá	bizqisjá	bizqvúsj	bizqát
	G	bizqí	bizqí	bizqó	bizqzqó	bizqá
zjesjí	A	zjesjí	zjiasjí	zjiasnjí	zjiasvúy	zjiasáz
	E	zjiasvú	zjesjivú	zjiasvú	zjiasvúv	zjiasáv
	M	zjiassjá	zjesjisjá	zjesjisjá	zjiasvúsj	zjiasat
	G	zjesjí	zjiasjí	zjesó	zjiaszqó	zjiasá

Personal Pronouns

First Person

Although first person personal pronouns show rank, the system differs from that of the second person pronouns and the articles. I nevertheless notate the ranks in like style from +1 to -2. The usage is relatively straightforward and the same for all speakers (if one overlooks the fact that where one needs to be polite, apologise, and so forth differs).

The +0 rank is used most of the time. The -1 rank humbles oneself and is most frequently used to apologise (indeed, perhaps the most frequent form of apology is just to adopt this form in one's next sentence, with no other comment); in a request it can be translated as ‘please’. The -2 rank is similar, but downright grovelling.

The +1 rank is perhaps best described as authoritative; it is used, for example, in official proclamations. In an argument, it has about the force of ‘listen to me: I know what I'm talking about here’ and/or ‘I'd stake my reputation on this’. Bizí pav-vé (lit. I+1 tell you+0) is an urgent way to get attention (for instance, if the building is on fire); normally interruptions would require a minor apology (-1). The +1 form is not to be used lightly in any context.

The forms of the pronoun are as follows:

Rank	Gender	ASg	ESg	MSg	GSg	APl	EPl	MPl	GPl
+1	m	bizínj	bizí	bizí	bizó	bizí
	f		bizív			bizín
+0	m	dunj	duv	du	do	du
	f	dus	duf	dut		duv			duzj
-1	m	sey	sev	sey	se	sew
	f	sesq	sew	set		sesq
-2	m	vi	viv	vi	vo	viw
	f	vis	viw	vit	vi	vif

Note that the first person plural pronoun is strictly exclusive. Inclusive we is handled with a ‘you with me/us’ construction.

Second Person

The second person pronoun has ranks parallel to those of the article. Its forms are as follows:

Rank	Gender	ASg	ESg	MSg	GSg	APl	EPl	MPl	GPl
+2	m	tjisjéy	tjisjéw	tjisjéy	tjisjé	tjisjéw
+1	m	zinj				zinj
	f	mem				mem
0	m	pav				pav
	f	sjis	sjiw	sjit	sji	sjis
-1	m	nji	avu	e	a	zqaz	zqav	zqat	zqa
	f	as	ap	at		av			azq
-2	m	zje				zje
	f

Third Person

The third person pronouns do not show rank, and normally do not need to since they are anaphoric. (The article can be used with them, in two very different ways: if the pronoun reference is unambiguous, the article changes the rank associated with the referent; alternatively the article can be used to distinguish which of multiple possible referents is meant.)

There are three series of pronouns (cf. Latin hic, iste, ille), which I gloss e.g. he here, he there and he yon (where ‘there’ means ‘near you’).

The feminine distinguishes between animate (for persons and animals) and inanimate: a holdover from a prehistoric merger of two noun classes. The masculine and neuter make no such distinction, but there is an increasing tendency to refer to neuters with the masculine pronouns instead; this is universally in the case of grammatically neuter persons. The neuter pronoun continues in use to refer to propositions, sections of text, etc.

This table shows the forms of the pronouns:

Distance	Gender	ASg	ESg	MSg	GSg	APl	EPl	MPl	GPl
here	m	vunj	vuv	vu	ro	vu
	n	vuy
	f anim	vuy	vuv	vusj	ro	vuv			vuzq
	f inan	vus	vuf	vut
there	m	onj	ov	ow	o	o
	n	oy
	f anim	oy	ov	osj	o	ov			ozq
	f inan	os	of	ot
yon	m	sjinj	sjiv	sji	se	sji
	n	sji
	f anim	sji	sjiv	sjisj	sji	sjiv			sjizq
	f inan	sjis	sjif	sjit