In linguistics, clusivity[1] is a grammatical distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we". Inclusive "we" specifically includes the addressee, while exclusive "we" specifically excludes the addressee; in other words, two (or more) words that both translate to "we", one meaning "you and I, and possibly someone else", the other meaning "me and some other person or persons, but not you". While imagining that this sort of distinction could be made in other persons (particularly the second) is straightforward, in fact the existence of second-person clusivity (you vs. you and they) in natural languages is controversial and not well attested.[2] While clusivity is not a feature of standard English language, it is found in many languages around the world.
The first published description of the inclusive-exclusive distinction by a European linguist was in a description of languages of Peru in 1560 by Domingo de Santo Tomás in his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los Reynos del Perú, published in Valladolid, Spain.[3]
Clusivity paradigms may be summarized as a two-by-two grid:
| Includes the addressee? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | ||
| Includes the speaker? | Yes | Inclusive we: I and you (and possibly they) | Exclusive we: I and they, but not you |
| No | you / yous(e) / y'all | they | |
In some languages, the three first-person pronouns appear to be unrelated roots. That is the case for Chechen, which has singular Chechen: со (Chechen: so), exclusive Chechen: тхо (Chechen: txo), and inclusive Chechen: вай (Chechen: vay). In others, however, all three are transparently simple compounds, as in Tok Pisin, an English creole spoken in Papua New Guinea, which has singular mi, exclusive mi-pela, and inclusive yu-mi (a compound of mi with yu "you") or yu-mi-pela. However, when only one of the plural pronouns is related to the singular, that may be the case for either one. In some dialects of Mandarin Chinese, for example, inclusive or exclusive Chinese: 我們／Chinese: 我们 Chinese: wǒmen is the plural form of singular Chinese: 我 Chinese: wǒ "I", and inclusive Chinese: 咱們／Chinese: 咱们 Chinese: zánmen is a separate root. However, in Hadza, the inclusive, ’one-be’e, is the plural of the singular ’ono (’one-) "I", and the exclusive, ’oo-be’e, is a separate root.
It is not uncommon for two separate words for "I" to pluralize into derived words, which have a clusivity distinction. For example, in Vietnamese, the familiar word for "I" (Vietnamese: ta) pluralizes to inclusive we (Vietnamese: chúng ta), and the formal or cold word for "I" (Vietnamese: tôi) pluralizes into exclusive we (Vietnamese: chúng tôi). In Samoan, the singular form of the exclusive is the regular word for "I", and the singular form of the inclusive may also occur on its own and then also means "I" but with a connotation of appealing or asking for indulgence.
In the Kunama language of Eritrea, the first-person inclusive and exclusive distinction is marked on dual and plural forms of verbs, independent pronouns, and possessive pronouns.[4]
Where verbs are inflected for person, as in the native languages of Australia and in many Native American languages, the inclusive-exclusive distinction can be made there as well. For example, in Passamaquoddy, "I/we have it" is expressed
Singular n-tíhin (first person prefix n-)
Exclusive n-tíhin-èn (first person n- + plural suffix -èn)
Inclusive k-tíhin-èn (inclusive prefix k- + plural -èn)
In Tamil, on the other hand, the two different pronouns have the same agreement in the verb.
First-person clusivity is a common feature among Dravidian, Kartvelian, and Caucasian languages,[5] Australian and Austronesian languages, and is also found in languages of eastern, southern, and southwestern Asia, Americas, and in some creole languages. Some African languages also make the distinction, such as the Fula language. No European language outside the Caucasus makes this distinction grammatically, but some constructions may be semantically inclusive or exclusive.
Several Polynesian languages, such as Samoan and Tongan, have clusivity with overt dual and plural suffixes in their pronouns. The lack of a suffix indicates the singular. The exclusive form is used in the singular as the normal word for "I", but the inclusive also occurs in the singular. The distinction is one of discourse: the singular inclusive has been described as the "modesty I" in Tongan. It is often rendered in English as one, but in Samoan, its use has been described as indicating emotional involvement on the part of the speaker.
In theory, clusivity of the second person should be a possible distinction, but its existence is controversial. Clusivity in the second person is conceptually simple but nonetheless if it exists is extremely rare, unlike clusivity in the first. Hypothetical second-person clusivity would be the distinction between "you and you (and you and you ... all present)" and "you (one or more addressees) and someone else whom I am not addressing currently." These are often referred to in the literature as "2+2" and "2+3", respectively (the numbers referring to second and third person as appropriate).
Some notable linguists, such as Bernard Comrie,[6] have attested that the distinction is extant in spoken natural languages, while others, such as John Henderson,[7] maintain that a clusivity distinction in the second person is too complex to process. Many other linguists take the more neutral position that it could exist but is nonetheless not currently attested.[2] Horst J. Simon provides a deep analysis of second-person clusivity in his 2005 article.[2] He concludes that oft-repeated rumors regarding the existence of second-person clusivity—or indeed, any [+3] pronoun feature beyond simple exclusive we[8] – are ill-founded, and based on erroneous analysis of the data.
The inclusive–exclusive distinction occurs nearly universally among the Austronesian languages and the languages of northern Australia, but rarely in the nearby Papuan languages. (Tok Pisin, an English-Melanesian creole, generally has the inclusive–exclusive distinction, but this varies with the speaker's language background.) It is widespread in India, featuring in the Dravidian and Munda languages, as well as in several Indo-European languages of India such as Oriya, Marathi, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Dakhini, and Gujarati (which either borrowed it from Dravidian or retained it as a substratum while Dravidian was displaced). It can also be found in the languages of eastern Siberia, such as Tungusic, as well as northern Mandarin Chinese. In indigenous languages of the Americas, it is found in about half the languages, with no clear geographic or genealogical pattern. It is also found in a few languages of the Caucasus and Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Fulani, and Khoekhoe.[9] [10]
It is, of course, possible in any language to express the idea of clusivity semantically, and many languages provide common forms that clarify the ambiguity of their first person pronoun (English "the rest of us", Italian noialtri). A language with a true clusivity distinction, however, does not provide a first-person plural with indefinite clusivity in which the clusivity of the pronoun is ambiguous; rather, speakers are forced to specify by the choice of pronoun or inflection, whether they are including the addressee or not. That rules out most European languages, for example. Clusivity is nonetheless a very common language feature overall. Some languages with more than one plural number make the clusivity distinction only in, for example, the dual but not in the greater plural, but other languages make it in all numbers. In the table below, the plural forms are the ones preferentially listed.
| width=100pt | Language | width=150pt | Inclusive form | width=150pt | Exclusive form | width=100pt | Singular related to | Notes | width=100pt | Language family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ainu | a-/an- | ci- | ?? | Ainu | ||||||
| American Sign Language (ASL) | "K" tips up palm in (dual) "1" tap chest + twist (pl) | "K" tips up palm side (dual) "1" tap each side of chest (pl) | Exclusive plural | French Sign Language | ||||||
| Anishinaabemowin | giinwi | niinwi | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person singular, and the exclusive form is derived from first-person singular. | Algonquian | |||||
| Apma | kidi | gema | Neither | Subject prefixes are ta- (inclusive) and kaa(ma)- (exclusive). There are also dual forms, which are derived from the plurals. | Austronesian | |||||
| Aymara | jiwasa | naya | Exclusive | The derived form jiwasanaka of the inclusive refers to at least three people. | Aymaran | |||||
| Bikol | kita | kami | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Bislama | yumi | mifala | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person pronoun and the first-person pronoun. There are also dual and trial forms. | English creole | |||||
| Cebuano | kita | kami | Neither | Short forms are ta (incl.) and mi (excl.) | Austronesian | |||||
| Chechen | vai | txo | Neither | Caucasian | ||||||
| Cherokee | ᎢᏂ (ini- (dual)), ᎢᏗ (idi- (plural)) | ᎣᏍᏗ (osdi- (dual)), ᎣᏥ (oji- (plural)) | Neither | The forms given here are the active verb agreement prefixes. Free pronouns do not distinguish clusivity. | Iroquoian | |||||
| Cree, Plains | ᑭᔮᓇᐤ (kiyānaw) | ᓂᔭᓈᐣ (niyanān) | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person singular pronoun, and the exclusive form is derived from the first-person singular. | Algonquian | |||||
| Cree, Moose | ᑮᓛᓈᐤ (kîlânâw) | ᓃᓛᐣ (nîlân) | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person singular pronoun, and the exclusive form is derived from the first-person singular. | Algonquian | |||||
| Cree, Swampy | ᑮᓈᓇᐤ (kīnānaw) | ᓃᓇᓈᐣ (nīnanān) | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person singular, whereas the exclusive form is derived from the first-person singular. | Algonquian | |||||
| Cree, Woods | ᑮᖭᓇᐤ (kīthānaw) | ᓂᖬᓈᐣ (nīthanān) | Both | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person singular, and the exclusive form is derived from the first-person singular. | Algonquian | |||||
| Dakhini | apan اپن | ham ہم | Indo-European | |||||||
| Daur | baa | biede | ?? | Mongolic | ||||||
| Evenki | mit | bū | ?? | Tungusic | ||||||
| Fijian | kedatou† | keitou ("we" but excludes the person spoken to) | "kedaru" also means "we" but is limited to the speaker and the person spoken to and can be translated as "you and me". † ("we" but includes both the person spoken to and the speaker as part of a finite group. To refer to a much larger group, like humanity or a race of people, "keda" is used instead. | Austronesian | ||||||
| Fula | (en), (eɗen) | (min), (miɗen) | Exclusive (?) | Examples show short- and long-form subject pronouns. | Niger-Congo | |||||
| Guarani | ñande | ore | Neither | Tupi-Guarani | ||||||
| Gujarati | આપણે pronounced as //aˑpəɳ(eˑ)// | અમે pronounced as //əmeˑ// | Exclusive | Indo-European | ||||||
| Hadza | onebee | ôbee | Inclusive | Hadza (isolate) | ||||||
| Hawaiian | kāua (dual); kākou (plural) | māua (dual); mākou (plural) | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Ilocano | datayó, sitayó | dakamí, sikamí | Neither | The dual inclusives datá and sitá are widely used. | Austronesian | |||||
| Juǀʼhoan | mtsá (dual); m, mǃá (plural) | ètsá (dual); è, èǃá (plural) | Neither | The plural pronouns è and m are short forms. | Kxʼa | |||||
| Kapampangan | ikatamu | ikami | Neither | The dual inclusive ikata is widely used. | Austronesian | |||||
| Australian Kriol | yunmi | melabat | Exclusive | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person pronoun and the first-person pronoun. The exclusive form is derived from the first-person singular and the third-person plural. There are significant dialectal and diachronic variations in the exclusive form. | English creole | |||||
| Lakota | uŋ(k)- | uŋ(k)- ... -pi | Neither | The inclusive form has a dual number. By adding the suffix -pi, it takes the plural number. In the plural form, no clusivity distinction is made. | Siouan | |||||
| Lojban | mi'o | mi'a/mi | Both | There is also the form ma'a, which means the speaker, the listener, and others unspecified. However, the first-person pronoun mi take no number and can refer to any number of individuals in the same group; mi'a and mi'o are usually preferred. | Constructed language | |||||
| Maguindanaon | sekitanu | sekami | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Malagasy | Isika | Izahay | – | Austronesian | ||||||
| Manchu | muse | be | Exclusive | Tungusic | ||||||
| Malay | kita | kami | Neither | The exclusive form is hardly used in informal Indonesian in the Jakarta area. Instead, kita is almost always used colloquially to indicate both inclusive and exclusive "we". However, in more formal circumstances (both written and spoken), the distinction is clear and well-practiced. Therefore, kami is absolutely exclusive, but kita may generally mean both inclusive and exclusive "we" depending on the circumstances. That phenomenon is less frequently encountered in Malaysian. | Austronesian | |||||
| Malayalam | നമ്മൾ (nammaḷ) | ഞങ്ങൾ (ñaṅṅaḷ) | Exclusive | Dravidian | ||||||
| Mandarin | 咱們 / 咱们 (zánmen) | 我們 / 我们 (wǒmen) | Exclusive | 我们 is used both inclusively and exclusively by most speakers, especially in formal situations. Use of 咱们 is common only in northern dialects, notably that of Beijing, and may be from Manchu influence.[11] | Sino-Tibetan | |||||
| Māori | tāua (dual); tātou (plural) | māua (dual); mātou (plural) | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Marathi | आपण pronounced as //aˑpəɳ// | आम्ही pronounced as //aˑmʱiˑ// | Exclusive | Indo-European | ||||||
| Marwari | pronounced as //aˑpãˑ// | pronounced as //mɦẽˑ// | Exclusive | Indo-European | ||||||
| Southern Min | 咱 (lán) | 阮 (goán/gún) | Exclusive | Sino-Tibetan | ||||||
| Newar language | Jhi: sa:n (झि:सं:) | Jim sa:n (जिम् सं:) | Both are used as possessive pronouns. | Sino-Tibetan | ||||||
| Pohnpeian | kitail (plural), kita (dual) | kiht (independent), se (subject) | There is an independent (non-verbal) and subject (verbal) pronoun distinction. The exclusive includes both dual and plural, and the independent has a dual-plural distinction. | Austronesian | ||||||
| Potawatomi | ginan, g- -men (short), gde- -men (long) | ninan, n- -men(short), nde- -men (long) | ?? | Potawatomi has two verb conjugation types, "short" and "long." Both are listed here, and labeled as such. | Central Algonquian | |||||
| Punjabi | ਆਪਾਂ (apan) | ਅਸੀਂ (asin) | Indo-European | |||||||
| Quechuan languages | ñuqanchik | ñuqayku | Both | Quechuan | ||||||
| Shawnee | kiilawe | niilawe | Exclusive | The inclusive form is morphologically derived from the second-person pronoun kiila. | Algic | |||||
| Tagalog | táyo | kamí | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Tausug | kitaniyu | kami | ?? | The dual inclusive is kita. | Austronesian | |||||
| Tamil | நாம் (nām) | நாங்கள் (nāṅkaḷ) | Exclusive | Dravidian | ||||||
| Telugu | మనము (manamu) | మేము (memu) | Exclusive | Dravidian | ||||||
| Tetum | ita | ami | Neither | Austronesian | ||||||
| Tok Pisin | yumipela | mipela | Exclusive | The inclusive form is derived from the second-person pronoun and the first-person pronoun. There are also dual and trial forms. | English creole | |||||
| Tupi | îandé | oré | Inclusive | Tupi-Guarani | ||||||
| Tulu | nama | yenkul | Dravidian | |||||||
| Udmurt[12] | as'meos (асьмеос); ваньмы ("we all together")[13] | mi (ми) | exclusive | The form as'meos seem to become obsolete and 'mi' is always used instead by younger generations, probably under the influence of Russian 'my' (мы) for 'we'. | Permic | |||||
| Vietnamese | chúng ta | chúng tôi | Exclusive | The exclusive form is derived from the formal form of I, tôi | Austroasiatic |