Chapter 3: Pronouns

Personal Pronouns #

Singular Plural
1st Com. [1]han:) 'ənáh I Nan:) 'ənán We
2nd Masc. .ta) 'át You NO.ta) 'attón You
2nd Fem. [2].ta) 'át You NE.ta) 'attén You
3rd Masc. )Uh hú' He [3]NUnEh henún They
3rd Fem. )Ih hí' She [4]NInEh henín They

In informal speech and writing, when given prefixes (see Proclitic Particles) the first letter of the Personal Pronoun is dropped (e.g. hnw wənah = han):w wə'ənah, Nwnyd denún = NUnEh:d dəhenún, etc.).

Where it is common in other dialects and goes counter to Galilean's largely phonetic system of spelling, very rarely one will see )Uh or )Ih without its final ). It only tends to happen with prefixes mentioned above, and this otherwise would be the only strong example of a "silent letter" employed in Galilean spelling.

In simple nominal sentences the Pronoun either proceeds or follows the object and can act as a copula ()Uh han:) 'ənáh hú' = "It's me").

Demonstrative Pronouns #

Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
This [5]N:d had NiyyAlE) (same)
(Independent) dən dah 'elaiyín
This [6]N:dah hadah NiyyAlE)ah (same)
(Attributive) haḏən haḏah ha'elaiyín
That )Uhah )Ihah NUnEhah NEnEhah
(Independent
& Attributive)[7]		 hahú' hahí' hahenún hahenén

Demonstrative pronouns come in two forms, Independent (used as a Noun, e.g. N:d E(ab .ta) = "Do you want this?") and Attributive (used as an Adjective, e.g. harpEs N:dah = "this book"). Attributive forms always precede the Nouns they modify which in turn must be in the Definite State.[8]

Galilean diexis (the relative positions of "this" and "that") is a bit different from that utilized in English. "This" covers things at hand as well as in the same general facility, regardless of contrast,[9] where "that" is far more distal and contrasted (more like "that one over there").[10]

Interrogative Pronouns #
Nam man = Who?
ham mah = What?

Nearly half the time Nam will be spelled Na)m and it can also be used in a non-Interrogative sense ("one who...").

When ham is followed by an Objective Pronoun, it takes on the meaning "What is the matter?" (ex. KAl ham = "What's (the matter) with you?").

When Demonstrative Pronouns are given the -yyah prefix, we get:

Masculine Feminine Plural
[11]N:dyyah hadyyah NElyyah =Which?
haiḏən haiḏáh hailén

Other Interrogatives #

Where most are not strictly Pronouns, there is seldom a better place to mention these than by the Interrogative Pronouns since some of them incorporate Interrogative Pronouns. Many times they can also be used in non-interrogative situations.
ta>mI) 'immaṯ = When?
[12]Nah han = Where?
[13]ham:l ləmah = Why?
[14]K:h həḵ = How?
[15]Nam:l ləman = Whose? To whom?

  1. Variant: )n). ↩︎

  2. Rarely the archaic yt). ↩︎

  3. Variants: Nwnh nwny). ↩︎

  4. Variants: Nynh, Nyny), vocalized once in the Piyutim as 'inin, but this is probably due to the repetition of çəre. ↩︎

  5. Variant: Nyd. ↩︎

  6. Variant: Nydh ↩︎

  7. Rare archaic forms: Kadah (c.s.); Kyly), Kwly), Kylyh, and Kwlyh (c.pl.). These are seldom encountered. ↩︎

  8. e.g. haxrO) N:dah = "this path," never axrO) N:dah or N:dah haxrO). The only exception to this is in translational language, such as what is found in the Targums where the Attributive follows the Definite Noun it modifies; however, this is more a matter of preserving original word order in the translated document than a true expression of the vernacular. ↩︎

  9. N:dAw N:d = "this and that" where it is literally "this and this." ↩︎

  10. Indeed, within the Galilean corpus, we find the strongest examples of "that" within court proceedings where each side refers to the other in marked opposition. ↩︎

  11. Variant spelling: Nydyyh ↩︎

  12. Often spelled N). ↩︎

  13. Made from -l + hm. ↩︎

  14. Sometimes spelled Kyh. ↩︎

  15. Made from -l + Nam. ↩︎