Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The following items recognized as Pronouns in Fou Tong

ye [iɛ] / mi [mi] - First Person Singular (I/me)
zu [t͡su] / zu [t͡sɹ̪̍] - Second Person Singular (thou/thee)
se [xɯ̯ʌ] / er [ɐɻ] - Third Person Singular Sentient Feminine (she /her)
he [xɯ̯ʌ] / heng [xəŋ] - Third Person Singular Sentient Masculine (he/him)
yi [i] /wen [u̯ən] - First Person Plural (we/us)
ju [t͡ɕy]/ jiu [t͡ɕi̯ɤu̯] - Second Person Plural (you/ye)
hua [xu̯ɑ] / huang [xu̯ɑŋ] - Personal Interrogative (who, what /whom)

Notice that there is no Third Person Plural pronouns, and Third Person pronouns are restricted to the Sentient beings: humans and anthropomorphized animals and objects. In Fou Tong, the role of the rest Third Person Pronouns is overtaken by the Classifiers - see more at Classifiers (upcoming).

Flection

The forms are presented above with in their Direct and Oblique Cases, see more at Flection. They take

• Direct Case: a possessee in an Inalienable Possession of a subject in any other phrase;

• Oblique Case: otherwise, i.e. possessor in Inalienable Possession Phrase and object/complement in any other phrase

See more at Copula and Possession (upcoming).

Possessive Pronouns

There are five possessive pronouns in Fou Tong

min [min] - my, mine (First Person Singular)
wēn [u̯ə́n] - our (First Person Plural)
jin [t͡ɕin] - your, thine (Second Person Singular)
ēr [ɐ́ɻ] - your (Second Person Plural)
xin [ɕin] - his/her/its/their (Third Person)

Unlike adjectives, possessive pronouns are placed before the antedescent:

Min rě chà.
my CL."ride" car
My car.

Ēr dǔi yōu.
2P.POSS daughter CL."woman"
Your (adult) daughters.

If there are several third person actors in the clause, the attribution of xin may become ambiguous. They can be supplemented with pronouns and classifiers for clarification.

Se xin yōu suǐ er xin mǐng duǐ mǐng xin cha bá yin lǐ.
3SF.DR 3.POSS CL."woman" sister 3SF.OB 3.POSS CL."mouth" 3.POSS CL."stretch" bed in lay
Her [adult] sister put her (this woman's) [young] daughter into her (the daughter's) bed.

vs.

Se xin yōu suǐ yōu xin mǐng duǐ er xin cha bá yin lǐ.
3SF.DR 3.POSS CL."woman" sister CL."woman" 3.POSS CL."mouth" daughter 3SF.OB 3.POSS CL."stretch" bed in lay.
Her sister put her (the sister's) daughter into her (the woman's) bed.

Non-Pronouns

Interrogative

The analogs of English interrogative pronouns/wh-words other than who/what, like huai "where", huan "when", "huo" how are considered particles. They are considered comments in topic/comment construction, and thus moved to the end of the phrase, preceded by a pause in pronunciation. See also: Questions (upcoming)

Zu er, huai?
2S.DR be.PNML | hwere
Where are you?

Se wa keng, huan?
3SF.DR COP.PST come | when
When did she come?

He za dē tao, huo?
3SM.DR DEM CL."deed" PROV.TRANS how

Relative

Relative pronouns are completely replaced by Classifiers - see more at Classifiers (upcoming)