Swahili love

[arsinyk]

According to someone on linguaphiles and confirmed by my dictionary:

'na', meaning 'and' or 'with', can be combined with the 2nd syllable of a pronoun (mimi, wewe, yeye, sisi, ninyi, wao) to mean "with (pronoun)".

*happy*

Comments

[arrowwhiskers]

That feels freakishly natural to me even though it shouldn't be o.O;

[arsinyk]

It does, doesn't it?

[grimnir42]

I just like the idea of a word meaning both 'and' and 'with'--I never really realized how similar the concepts were before o.O

[arsinyk]

Yeah, it feels really comfortable having them be the same. Now that I think about it, what is the distinction in languages with both?

[grimnir42]

'And' is a conjunction, 'with' is a preposition--but otherwise, nothin', I'd say.
They both denote an accompanyment--I mean, you can easily I say, "I went with Stinky McShoebuckle to Watership Down last Saturday," or "Stinky McShoebuckle and I went to Watership Down last Saturday"--and it means the same exact thing. You would probably never say either of those things, but nonetheless.
It's just a matter of a compound-noun-thingy or an adverbial phrase.

[arrowwhiskers]

I also really get the sense that "with" puts stronger importance or emphasis on the second thing mentioned.
For example:
"I went with Mary to the concert." Mary was going to the concert, I just accompanied her.
"Mary went with me to the concert." Actually, I was going, and Mary decided to come along.

"Mary and I went to the concert." Who knows whose idea it was. It might have been a joint decision. The word with does not lend this implication at all.