This was a request from Jollysunflora so Iâll go through the pronouns in each language in each language from simplest to most complex *cough* Fire-ese *cough*
Earth-ese
In Earth-ese the pronouns are fairly simple. They donât change for case and are more or less consistent throughout the whole Earth Kingdom. Itâs no wonder United Republic-ans chose these over the Fire-ese pronouns.
Jei â 1st-person pronoun: âmeâ, âIâ
Su â 2nd-person pronoun: âyouâ
Nope â 3rd-person pronoun (pronounced either 1 syllable or 2 syllables depending on the accent). This refers to a human whose gender is either unspecified, unsure, or neither male or female.
Lu â 3rd-person pronoun, used for a female human: âsheâ, âherâ
Man â 3rd-person pronoun, used for a male human: âheâ, âhimâ
Ca â 3rd-person pronoun, used for non-humans like: âitâ
Now, I have left out âweâ and âtheyâ here because this is where Earth-ese differs from English a bit, but itâs still fairly simple.
The word-order of Earth-ese actually allows you to put as many pronouns next to each other as you need. So, instead of âweâ you either say âme and youâ (jei su) or âme and you and herâ (jei su lu) or however pronouns describe what youâre referring to.
âTheyâ as in a large group of varied people can be âNope lu manâ or âman luâ but in the Southern dialect it is also common to just add the plural suffix â-chongâ, such as âNopechongâ.
For âyouâ when referring to a large group, Northern Earth-ese speaker would say âSu suâ as in âyou and youâ but in Southern Earth-ese it is more common to say âSuchongâ.
There are no formal versions of these pronouns as formality and politeness are often added at the start of the sentence with context words in a similar way to âpleaseâ. Although, in some Southern dialects they suffix these context words onto the pronouns, similar to the plural marker.
UR Fire-ese
I actually lied. UR Fire-ese probably has the easiest pronouns but since theyâre derived from the Earth-ese pronouns I thought it was easier to explain those first.
Anyway, UR Fire-ese took âJeiâ, âSuâ, âNopeâ, âLuâ, âManâ, and âCaâ from Earth-ese but simplified the plural pronouns using the Fire-ese plural suffix â-ghanâ (Pronounced â-ganâ in the UR). Fire-ese also has a dual suffix (-zu) but since Earth-ese does not it is only used emphatically in UR Fire-ese.
Jeigan â âweâ, âusâ
No-pe-gan â âtheyâ, âthemâ (human)
Cagan â âtheyâ, âthemâ (non-human)
While the â-ghanâ suffix can be used on any of the other pronouns, these two were the most commonly accepted in general speech. âSuganâ or âSuzuâ or âLuganâ are all understood but only really used when you want to be specific, like specifically saying âYou allâ or âthe pair of womenâ.
However, UR Fire-ese is still Fire-ese and the closer you speak to Mainland Fire-ese the âposherâ you are perceived. These pronouns are still vastly preferred but a few very posh/formal speakers add Fire-ese pronouns, usually derived from a personâs title, almost like an honorific.
For example, the Council Page Tarrlok sent to convince Korra to join the taskforce. He would say something along the lines of: âCouncilman Tarrlok sends his compliments and urges the Avatar to reconsider his offer.â
Despite being a Fire-ese addition, this is often combined with the Earth-ese articles like âtheâ.
Most people make fun of this practice as it sounds like youâre speaking in third person.
Air-ese donât conjugate for number, gender, or formality so in effect they only have 3 pronouns:
Fa â 1st-person: âmeâ, âIâ, weâ, âusâ
Ka â 2nd-peron: âyouâ
Ta â 3rd-person: âsheâ, âherâ, âheâ, âhimâ, âitâ, âtheyâ
But everything in Air-ese has to conjugate for case to be understood so these are either used as the âf-â, âk-â, and ât-â prefixes or the â-faâ, â-kaâ, and â-taâ suffixes.
In a noun phrase, you would add â(l)angâ to them: fang/langfa, kang/langka, tang/langta
If the pronoun refers to the subject of a transitive verb (she kicked him), you add a â(h)ikâ: fik/hikfa, kik/hikka, tik/hikta
Object of a transitive verb (she kicked him), you add a â(t)agâ: fag/tagfa, kag/tagka, tag/tagta
Agent of an intransitive verb (she sleeps), you add a â(l)inâ: fin/linfa, kin/linka, tin/linta
There are other cases which Iâll list in a later post so with Air-ese it is easiest to learn the individual parts and construct them as you go.
Okay, looking at things now I am starting to see a pattern. Why do I hate âweâ and âthemâ so much? Not a single one of my conlangs ended up having a single word for them.
Oh well. Anyway, Northern Water-ese has 10 pronouns, each of which have a plural form, and each of which have a separate form for the subject of the verb and the object of the verb. That equates toâŠ60 forms total. Thank goodness theyâre regular! Once again, you just have to learn the basic building blocks and smash them together.
Inside a verb as an indirect object or something similar, they appear as either the onset or the coda listed in the second column e.g. âNisok kaguroonga giq!â
The verb here is broken down into: [enjoy-hope-3rd.immaterial-present] -> [ka-guroon-g-a] which the â-g-â referring to the immaterial blog which will make happy.
In Water-ese, instead of a formal/informal distinction like French there is a familiar/unfamiliar distinction. The 2nd-person changes depending on how well you know the person, whether they are a stranger or not. Although, there is a formal 2nd-person used for people with a high status.
The 3rd-person pronouns are split into âanimateâ pronouns and âinanimateâ pronouns. You separate humans and animals into either âmaleâ or âfemaleâ while spirits have their own 3rd-person pronoun. Everything else is either âsolidâ â something with a solid form â âflowingâ â something physical but changing â or âimmaterialâ â something without a physical form. These are often compared to the forms of water: ice, water, and steam.
All of these pronouns are used in the Northern Water Tribe but during the separation caused by the 100 Years War the Southern Water Tribe got rid of the animate 3rd-person pronouns and the 2nd-person formal pronoun. This means that in the Southern Water Tribe all humans and animals are described with the âsolidâ 3rd-person pronoun. Also, in the Northern Water Tribe they refer to the Avatar using the âspiritâ 3rd-person pronoun. In the Southern Water Tribe itâs the same âsolidâ pronoun as other humans.
There are also pronunciation differences between the Northern Water Tribe and the Southern Water Tribe.
NWT: [Rra -> Ra] [Ves -> Fes] [Kack -> Kak]
SWT: [Min -> Moon] [Ves -> Ve] [Yuk -> Yook] [Miq -> Mik]
So âViqâ would be pronounced âFiqâ in the Northern Water Tribe and âVikâ in the Southern Water Tribe.
Alright, here is the mother of complicated when it comes to pronouns and probably what most of you wanted this post to be about.
There are no regular pronouns in Mainland Fire-ese. Basically, you are constantly speaking in 3rd-person, using thingsâ names, descriptions, and positions to get across what you are referring to. You can just use peopleâs names â âLooks like Zuko underestimated the Avatarâ â and this is used by children who find remembering pronouns to be difficult but as a result this is often seen as childish or slow-witted.
In an extremely neutral situation, you can use âYudafawâ or âYukinghanâ to indict yourself who is speaking and the person you are talking to. However, people tend to like to personalise their speech with either their official title, like Fire Lord, or a defining characteristic such as their age, hair, or personality. It is very common to turn adjectives into pronouns like âBrown (hair)â, âChattyâ, or âBlue (clothes)â. These pronouns donât usually have a specific gender attached to them unless itâs something like âmotherâ, as in the parent who was pregnant, although even this isnât necessarily female.
These pronouns indicate closeness and formality. For example, most people would refer to the Avatar as âAvatarâ (technically âAvatorâ in the Mainland Fire-ese accent) but once Zuko joins the Gaang and becomes friends with Aang he would instead use âFriendâ or just âAangâ in casual conversation.
There is also a good set of demonstratives to refer to inanimate objects:
Uza â Something close to the speaker: âthisâ
Shur â Something close to the listener: âthisâ
(Thing) Lei â Something close to (something): âthisâ
Lian â Something away from the speaker: âthatâ
Mir â Something away from the listener: âthatâ
(Thing) Ehnoz â Something away from (something): âthatâ
â-zuâ or â-ghanâ can be added to any of these to indicate number.
