Brainstorming
Word order shows person language 1:
In a neutral statement, the first person is often demoted in importance by being placed after the verb. The second person is always given highest importance as the very first word, no matter what. Most sentences start with 'i', indicating that there is no 2nd person. The 'i' is only left out either when you have the pronoun "you" or when you're talking to something in the 3rd person (eg, talking to a cat, but still saying 'cat', saying sort of "you-cat").
Word order only indicates person with pronouns--nouns are all inherently 3rd person, though they can be ordered like pronouns. Eg, If Elisabeth is speaking to Katherine and, using the 3rd person, says, "Elisabeth gives it to Katherine" she would say "Katherine(object) ri Elisabeth(causal) mati" (ri = it-subject). Depending on what she wants to say, she can include the "i" place holder (making Katherine truly 3rd person) and/or place Elisabeth after the verb (making Elisabeth truly 1st person) without changing the neutrality of the sentence.
People frequently make use of the 3rd person in place of 1st/2nd, often (though not always) still treating names/nouns as pronouns (replacing the "i" place holder with [noun referring to you] and keeping the word order the same except for emphasis). Other constructions (making use of other ways to mark person, eg posessives) might also be possible, especially for emphasis.
Possibly, the -i ending of "mati" indicates the present tense, in which case the -i in the pronouns will agree with the tense of the verbs. Alternately, there are several classes of verb, each of which has a different ending that agrees with all pronouns in the sentence. OR there is no connection, but that'd be boring.
There are separate pronouns, which are used for emphasis and to mark possessives.
Something interesting happens when you have 1st or 2nd person pronouns used twice in a sentence, but I haven't decided what.
Number is indicated by putting the number after the noun. (The cats ate dinner = dinner(object) cats(subject)-many ate.)
If multiple pronouns are used together (eg, We), things get more interesting.
Nouns fall into a number of classes, which do ... something. Possibly the "main" noun agrees with the verb (main verb is determined through to following hierarchy: you => non-pronoun => subject). Or they're all declined the same way or they simply all share endings and meaning can be manipulated consistently.
Noun classes include:
1) women, fire and dangerous things
2) things that move well
3) ...some other classes >>;
Word order shows person language 2:
This is a little more complex. Persons are:
1 I
2 You
3 (S)he (animate)
4 It (inanimate)
5 It (abstract)
6 It (action)
Other basic components of a sentence:
tense - a word or phrase (yesterday/tomorrow/now/three months ago/September 17/December 24th, 9 PM Eastern Standard Time/whatever) modified to indicate whether the action is perfect or imperfect.
mood - indicative, interrogative, imperative, necessitative ('He must'), probabilitative ('He may'), obligative ('He should'), approximative ('He seems to'), superprobabilitative ('He probably'), hyperprobabilitive ('He must have'), and reputative ('He is supposed to').
evidentiality - fact, hearsay/speculation; is left out with the imperative mood; necessitative, probabilitative, obligative, approximative, superprobabilitative, hyperprobabilitive, and reputative are always hearsay/speculation. Indicative and interrogative can be either factual or speculative.
Word order:
1(I)-2(you)-5(abstract)-evidentiality-6(action)-tense-3([S]he)-mood-4(inanimate)
1-2-5-E-6-T-3-M-4
There is a case that ties a word to the mood, indicating that noun in question is the one who feels this way. By default, the 1st person is assumed to have the mood. The 1st person takes this form when it has no other role in the sentence. Eg, "(factual) He gave it to her" = I(mood) fact giving did he(sub) to-her indicative it(ob). IT WILL WORK I SWEAR.
Word order shows person language 3:
This one exists mostly to confuse speakers of the first. Why? Because I feel like it >>.
Word order is 3-2-1 (it-you-I). The verb always follows "it". The verb always agrees with the gender, number, and case of the speaker, even if there is no first person specified.
So anything before the verb is 3rd person, anything after the verb that agrees with the verb must be 1st person, anything after the verb that *doesn't* agree is 2nd person. Reflexiveness in the first person is shown in the verb, though regular verbs simply have a different form when they're reflexive.
And I'll finish this later.
In a neutral statement, the first person is often demoted in importance by being placed after the verb. The second person is always given highest importance as the very first word, no matter what. Most sentences start with 'i', indicating that there is no 2nd person. The 'i' is only left out either when you have the pronoun "you" or when you're talking to something in the 3rd person (eg, talking to a cat, but still saying 'cat', saying sort of "you-cat").
Word order only indicates person with pronouns--nouns are all inherently 3rd person, though they can be ordered like pronouns. Eg, If Elisabeth is speaking to Katherine and, using the 3rd person, says, "Elisabeth gives it to Katherine" she would say "Katherine(object) ri Elisabeth(causal) mati" (ri = it-subject). Depending on what she wants to say, she can include the "i" place holder (making Katherine truly 3rd person) and/or place Elisabeth after the verb (making Elisabeth truly 1st person) without changing the neutrality of the sentence.
People frequently make use of the 3rd person in place of 1st/2nd, often (though not always) still treating names/nouns as pronouns (replacing the "i" place holder with [noun referring to you] and keeping the word order the same except for emphasis). Other constructions (making use of other ways to mark person, eg posessives) might also be possible, especially for emphasis.
Possibly, the -i ending of "mati" indicates the present tense, in which case the -i in the pronouns will agree with the tense of the verbs. Alternately, there are several classes of verb, each of which has a different ending that agrees with all pronouns in the sentence. OR there is no connection, but that'd be boring.
There are separate pronouns, which are used for emphasis and to mark possessives.
Something interesting happens when you have 1st or 2nd person pronouns used twice in a sentence, but I haven't decided what.
Number is indicated by putting the number after the noun. (The cats ate dinner = dinner(object) cats(subject)-many ate.)
If multiple pronouns are used together (eg, We), things get more interesting.
Nouns fall into a number of classes, which do ... something. Possibly the "main" noun agrees with the verb (main verb is determined through to following hierarchy: you => non-pronoun => subject). Or they're all declined the same way or they simply all share endings and meaning can be manipulated consistently.
Noun classes include:
1) women, fire and dangerous things
2) things that move well
3) ...some other classes >>;
Word order shows person language 2:
This is a little more complex. Persons are:
1 I
2 You
3 (S)he (animate)
4 It (inanimate)
5 It (abstract)
6 It (action)
Other basic components of a sentence:
tense - a word or phrase (yesterday/tomorrow/now/three months ago/September 17/December 24th, 9 PM Eastern Standard Time/whatever) modified to indicate whether the action is perfect or imperfect.
mood - indicative, interrogative, imperative, necessitative ('He must'), probabilitative ('He may'), obligative ('He should'), approximative ('He seems to'), superprobabilitative ('He probably'), hyperprobabilitive ('He must have'), and reputative ('He is supposed to').
evidentiality - fact, hearsay/speculation; is left out with the imperative mood; necessitative, probabilitative, obligative, approximative, superprobabilitative, hyperprobabilitive, and reputative are always hearsay/speculation. Indicative and interrogative can be either factual or speculative.
Word order:
1(I)-2(you)-5(abstract)-evidentiality-6(action)-tense-3([S]he)-mood-4(inanimate)
1-2-5-E-6-T-3-M-4
There is a case that ties a word to the mood, indicating that noun in question is the one who feels this way. By default, the 1st person is assumed to have the mood. The 1st person takes this form when it has no other role in the sentence. Eg, "(factual) He gave it to her" = I(mood) fact giving did he(sub) to-her indicative it(ob). IT WILL WORK I SWEAR.
Word order shows person language 3:
This one exists mostly to confuse speakers of the first. Why? Because I feel like it >>.
Word order is 3-2-1 (it-you-I). The verb always follows "it". The verb always agrees with the gender, number, and case of the speaker, even if there is no first person specified.
So anything before the verb is 3rd person, anything after the verb that agrees with the verb must be 1st person, anything after the verb that *doesn't* agree is 2nd person. Reflexiveness in the first person is shown in the verb, though regular verbs simply have a different form when they're reflexive.
And I'll finish this later.