3 Responses to “Datapoint Mapudungun / Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns”

1. Benjamin Molineaux Says:
   October 22nd, 2020 at 12:50 am

   Mapudungun is definitely a language lacking the inclusive/exclusive distinction, not a language with no distinction between ‘I’ and ‘we’.
   While number is optional for third person, Mapudungun second person pronouns clearly distinguish singular, dual and plural.
   Here is the relevant passage from the text used as a source (Smeets 2008:97):
   “Mapuche distinguishes three persons and three numbers. In the system of personal pronouns and that of personal suffixes, indication of number is obligatory for first and second person and optional for the third person. There is no inclusive/exclusive distinction. There is no male/female distinction.
   The personal pronouns are:
   iñche = I – 1s
   iñchiu = We – 1d
   iñchiñ = We – 1d”

2. Michael Cysouw Says:
   October 23rd, 2020 at 11:07 am

   Dear Benjamin,

   you are right, this classification seems to be wrong. This is strange, because the sources I consulted (and referenced) clearly state the presence of number marking, so I can only say that this was a clear error on my side. I checked back and it was already in my original data files from 2002… I will add an issue to the WALS data, and it might then be changed at some point in the future.

   best
   Michael (author of the chapter)

3. Benjamin Molineaux Says:
   October 26th, 2020 at 3:58 am

   Hi Michael,
   Thanks for the quick reply! Well, this is one of the pitfalls of typological work, of course: A lot of data from quite varied sources to sift through, so occasional mistakes are inevitable. Great that WALS is a dynamic resource that should allow for some post-hoc updating.
   Best regards,
   Ben

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