Pronouns[]
Personal Pronouns[]
There are seven classes of personal pronoun in Sangi; simple, emphatic, honorific, informal, desirative, highly informal (or insultive) and reflexive.
| Simple | Emphatic | Honorific | Desirative | Informal | Insultive | Reflexive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ma | ema | mia | á | mio | amwa | meǵe |
| 2nd person | sa | esa | śa | aju | sio | jaro | seǵe |
| 3rd person | ha | eca | za | io | þio | imćo | heǵe |
These are all declined according to the rules of nouns. Each one of these pronouns can also be suffixed to a noun to form a level effect similar to the Japanese and Korean systems of honorifics. Most, though, are used in different circumstances to East Asian honorifics and are mainly stylistic. Emphatic pronouns are used similarly to simple pronouns in the vocative or with conjugated verbs, emphasising that particular participant. Honorific pronouns are much the same but further emphasise the pronoun, although they can also be used to address strangers, being a more polite form. Informal pronouns are used in informal situations, but also diminish the emphasis on that pronoun, working in reverse of emphatic and honorific pronouns. When used with emphasised works for feelings it can be taken as a serious lowering in level of the object and even as an insult, making the insultive pronouns’ use almost taboo in most circumstances. Desirative pronouns are mostly poetic, similar to honorific pronouns but used when the noun represented is loved are desired (for). Insultive pronouns are usually used to represent the “old world” and threats to Sangi society, although they may also be used in anger as expletives, being the only actual words which come close to swear words (although if one wished, new ones could be constructed using sound change laws). Reflexive pronouns are used to emphasise possession and the reflexive nature of such verbs, acting in a similar way to a kind of “reflexive emphatic” pronoun.
Reflexive forms of the other pronouns are formed by adding -cha onto the end of the stem. Tis is uses in constructions like "he is missing his house itself" where "house itself" would be similar to the English construction "the house itself", but marked here for possesion, i.e. úr-haćac
Demonstrative Pronouns[]
There are three demonstrative pronouns; tir (this), ta (that) and tana (that over there). Each one is declined as if it were a noun or an adjective depending on its use.
Temporal Pronouns[]
There are also three temporal pronouns; nú (now), núrá (then, sometime in the past), núśa (then, sometime in the future). The past and future pronouns must be follwed by the definite article to mean “then” specifically because they are indefinite by default). The past and future pronouns are used alongside the -rda and -rra suffixes on temporal nouns to indicate the meanings "before" and "after". This is indicated in writing by placing a hyphen between the two words.
Spacial Pronouns[]
The spacial pronouns are y (here), te (there) and tena (over there).
Interrogative Pronouns[]
The interrogative pronouns are “u” (how), “o” (who, what), “á” (why), “ven” (when), “ve” (where), “ol” (what, what happened), “vit” (which). When “vit” takes the definite article it means “which one”.
There is also a particle, “cwa”, which is clause final and turns a statement into a question. “Cwa” can also be a clitic attached to the verb in question. It remains “cwa” when following a vowel, but “ca” when following a consonant. In this position it becomes susceptible to the phonological processes which occur at morpheme boundaries. If two verbs are conjugated in the same way and both take this clitic form then only the first need be conjugated. The final “a” may be omitted if it is followed by a vowel, but is always omitted when followed by an “a”.
Relative Pronouns[]
To create relative pronouns from interrogatives, replace the initial v-/Ø- with j-. To create then using demonstrative pronouns replace the initial t- with di-.
Indefinite Pronouns[]
The indefinite pronouns are formed by suffixing the indefinite suffixes onto the words man- (-body), an- (-one), tin- (-thing), ier- (place), tám- (-time[s]). To create the negative indefinite pronouns the suffix taken is -[i]ne. The word "else" in these constructions is rendered as "-eļ-" in Sangi.