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Ghanaian Pidgin English

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Table 3. Pronouns<br />

subject object adnominal reflexive<br />

independent dependent independent dependent possessives pronouns<br />

1SG mi à mi mì mà màsɛf<br />

2SG ju jù ju jù jɔ̀ jɔ̀sɛf<br />

3SG in ì am àm ìn ìnsɛf<br />

1PL wi wì wi> ɔs wì > ɔ̀s àua > wì àuasɛf<br />

2PL ju jù ju jù jɔ̀ jɔ̀sɛf<br />

3PL dɛm dè > dɛ̀m dɛm dɛ̀m dɛà > dɛ̀m dɛ̀msɛf<br />

INDF sɔmbɔdi, sɔmtin, ɛnibɔdi, ɛnitin, natin<br />

GhaPE has low‐toned dependent pronouns that can only occur before a verb, and<br />

high‐toned independent pronouns, which occur in all other positions. Student<br />

<strong>Pidgin</strong> has special pronouns in 1pl (wana) and 3pl (dɛma).<br />

There is no special construction for pronoun conjunction in GhaPE. Instead, ɛn ʹandʹ<br />

(or sometimes plus or kum in the student variety) is used to conjoin NPs of which at<br />

least one is a pronoun: mɛri ɛn mí go taun ʹMary and I went to townʹ.<br />

The proximal demonstrative dis and the distal demonstrative dat both precede SG<br />

and PL nouns: dis mã ʹthis manʹ, dat masalaʤi ʹthat mosqueʹ, dis tins ʹthese thingsʹ,<br />

dat fauls ʹthose fowlsʹ.<br />

Adnominal possessives precede the noun (mà granfada ʹmy grandfatherʹ), while<br />

pronominal possessives are formed by the possessive pronouns + on (ʹownʹ): dis ka<br />

bì mà on ʹthis car is mineʹ.<br />

For human reference, the indefinite pronoun sɔmbɔdi occurs in positive, and ɛnibɔdi<br />

in negative sentences, questions, and with unspecified reference in positive<br />

sentences, just like in Standard <strong>English</strong>:<br />

(5) jù gò si sɔmbɔdi wit ĩ̀ waif.<br />

2SG FUT see INDF with 3SG.POSS wife<br />

ʹYou will see somebody with his wife.ʹ<br />

(6) dè no dè pe ɛnibɔdi.<br />

3PL NEG HAB pay INDF<br />

ʹThey did not pay anybody.ʹ<br />

The non‐human indefinite pronouns sɔmtin ʹsomethingʹ and ɛnitin ʹanythingʹ are used<br />

similarly. The negative pronoun natin ʹnothingʹ can co‐occur with the negator no<br />

without the sentence losing its negative polarity:<br />

(7) jù no gò tek natin nak àm.<br />

2SG NEG COND take INDF knock 3SG.OBJ<br />

ʹYou would not hit it with anything.ʹ<br />

Cardinal (wan, tu, trɛ, fɔ, faif …) and ordinal numerals (fɛs, sɛkɛn, tɛd, fɔt, fift …)<br />

are all borrowed from <strong>English</strong> and precede the noun.<br />

5

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