vusam: Pronouns (I-Rule)

Collecting and collating pronouns used by Southern Paiwan speakers in Chunre, Shizi, and Mudan townships, at the same time borrowing from Linguist Chang, Hsiou-Chuan's study of Tjinalja’avusan Paiwan of Laiyi Township, the township of Central Paiwan just to the north of Chunre, I made the following table of Pronouns: 

Pronouns (Southern Paiwan)			Normative	Genitive	Oblique	Neutral
Singular	1st Person		aken a’en -en	niaken nia’en ku ’u	tjanua’en	tiaken tia’en
	2nd Person		sun	nisun su	tjanusun	tisun
	3rd Person		timadju	nimadju	tjaimadju	timadju
Plural	1st Person	Inclusive	itjen -tjen titjen timitja	nimitja tja-	tjainuitjen
		Exclusive	amen -men	niamen nia nimitja	(tjanuamen)	tiamen
	2nd Person		-mun	nimun nu	tjanumun	timun
	3rd Person		tiamadju	niamadju	tjaimadju	tiamadju

Source: klokah; Table of Thousand Words in Southern Paiwan; those in brackets are from Introduction to Paiwan Grammar by Chang, Hsiou-Chuan (Taipei: CIP, 2016), pp. 52-53.

Here are some examples from klokah (pronouns are underlined):

1. su sinsi timadju? -- Is he your teacher?  

2.  mapida mun a taqumaqanan? -- How many people do you have in the family?

3. izua u zidinsiya. -- I have a bike.  

4. timitja a se paiwan... --we, the people of Paiwan...
5. palayulayuin a keman ta kudamunu, metarivak a tja lingalingaw. --Eat fruit often, so our body will become healthy. 

Two important things to note from the table are: first, both 'aken' and 'a'en' exist in Southern Paiwan, and second, while first- and second-person pronouns including a'en/en/u, sun/su,  men/(tja), and mun/nu are considered bound (that is, to be affixed the verb or noun, such as kemeljanga'en or suquvalj), Southern Paiwan speakers write them as free (so, instead of susinsi or uzidinsiya, they write su sinsi or  u zidinsiya). 

In Paiwan, the voiceless velar stop /k/ and pharyngeal consonant /q/ regularly become the glottal stop /’/ due to regional differences. For example, pakan in Southern Paiwan becomes pa’an (feed) in Central Paiwan;  saceqalj in Southern/Central/ Eastern Paiwan becomes sace’alj (light, not heavy) in Northern Paiwan; qilaljan in Central/Eastern Paiwan becomes ’iladjan (chair) in Northern Paiwan. So is the case with qulu/’ulu (head), qacaqaca /’aca’aca (big, tall), cekelj/ce’elj (spouse), qivu/’ivu (say) and so on. 

It is very likely pairs such as aken/aen (I), ku/u (my), kama/ama (father), kina/ina (mother), kivangvang/ivanvang (play) etc., which exist at the same time in Southern Paiwan, are also subject to the same phonetic variation and should be written as a’en, ’u, ’ama, ’ina, and ’ivangvang.  Thus, the following examples from klokah, in my opinion, can be reconsidered: 

1. ui, situ a en a’en. -- Yes, I am a student. 

2. sa keman a en a’en ta vasa. -- Then I ate taros. 

3. saigu, saigu a en a’en tu kedri, itulutulu a en a’en tucu. -- I can, I can speak a little, I am learning now. 

To write the pronoun separately as 'a en' or 'a men' is both confusing and misleading. Besides, the knowledge of the  k/q/ ’ variation will be sacrificed in the long run. We need to remember, not to forget. 

Also, Linguist Chang suggests that some pronouns should be bound in form. Accordingly, a sentence like 'Have you brought the umbrella?" can be written in one Paiwan word namasiljinaisun? The construction of the word goes: na (perfect prefix) + masi (to take, prefix) + ljinai (the object umbrella) + sun (the second-person pronoun you). Similarly, namangtjezangamun? means  'Have you guys arrived?'; ’usu’inelem means 'I have hit you'; makaparimasudjangasun? means 'Have you cleaned up (your room)?'. Just imagine the troubles a student, whether kids or adults, would go through just to understand Paiwan on paper! 

Since in these examples, pronouns sun, mun,’u, and su are independent semantically - they do not need to attach to other words to produce meanings -, for teaching purposes, I prefer to take all pronouns as free in form. They can be written separately. 

In summary, I propose the following rule regarding the writing of Pronouns in Southern Paiwan: 

Except for 'en', 'men', 'mun' and 'tja',  write other pronouns in free form, and do not miss the glottal stop ’ . 

(Source: klokah)

tjuru(misspelling) a ku qali,(lack spacing; wrong punctuation)izua uqaljai(misspelling) katua vavayan.(lack spacing)maciuciur a men(misspelling) a ljemita (missing case marker)qadaw a itaqeci (lacking punctuation) a kivangavang uta. nanguaq a nia sinsi,(wrong punctuation) ru pareikai(misspelling) a men(misspelling) tua pinayuanan, a semenai uta.(lack spacing)tjenglai(misspelling) a men(misspelling) aravac(misspelling?) tjaimadju.

Revision: 

tjuruvu a ku qali. izua uqaljay katua vavayan. maciuciur amen a ljemita a qadaw a itaqeci, i kivangavang uta. nanguaq a nia sinsi. rupareikai amen tua pinayuanan, a semenai uta. tjengelay amen a ravac tjaimadju. 

Translation: I have many friends. There are boys and girls. Every day we study and play together. Our teacher is great. We often speak Paiwan and sing too. We like her/him (the teacher) very much.