Basque pronouns and allocutive markers

Basque has two pronouns for a single addressee, the familiar hi and the ordinary zu. Zu was once the second person plural and still agrees as one: the verb takes the same plural marking with zu as with gu 'we'. The newer plural zuek is built on it. The Souletin dialect has allocutive suffixes on the auxiliary, -k and -n for a familiar male and female addressee and -zü for an addressee spoken to with respect. The same suffixes serve as ordinary agreement with a second person subject.

References

• [Lak96]
• D. Alok and O. Bhalla, Allocutivity and the Syntax of Honorifics (2026)

inductive Basque.Grade : Type

The honorific grades of Basque pronouns and allocutive markers, lowest first.

• familiar : Grade

  The familiar grade, hi.

• polite : Grade

  The polite grade, zu.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Basque.instDecidableEqGrade : DecidableEq Grade

Equations

• Basque.instDecidableEqGrade x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

@[instance_reducible]

instance Basque.instFintypeGrade : Fintype Grade

Equations

• Basque.instFintypeGrade = { elems := { val := ↑Basque.Grade.enumList, nodup := Basque.Grade.enumList_nodup }, complete := Basque.instFintypeGrade._proof_1 }

def Basque.instReprGrade.repr : Grade → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

• Basque.instReprGrade.repr Basque.Grade.familiar prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Basque.Grade.familiar")).group prec✝
• Basque.instReprGrade.repr Basque.Grade.polite prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Basque.Grade.polite")).group prec✝

@[instance_reducible]

instance Basque.instReprGrade : Repr Grade

Equations

• Basque.instReprGrade = { reprPrec := Basque.instReprGrade.repr }

@[instance_reducible]

instance Basque.instLinearOrderGrade : LinearOrder Grade

Equations

• Basque.instLinearOrderGrade = LinearOrder.lift' Basque.Grade.ctorIdx Basque.instLinearOrderGrade._proof_1

def Basque.Pronouns.ni : PersonalPronoun

ni — 1sg.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.ni = { form := "ni", person := some Person.first, number := some Number.singular }

def Basque.Pronouns.gu : PersonalPronoun

gu — 1pl.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.gu = { form := "gu", person := some Person.first, number := some Number.plural }

def Basque.Pronouns.hi : PersonalPronoun

hi — 2sg familiar.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.hi = { form := "hi", person := some Person.second, number := some Number.singular }

def Basque.Pronouns.zu : PersonalPronoun

Zu addresses one person and agrees as a second person plural.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.zu = { form := "zu", person := some Person.second, number := some Number.plural, referential := {Person.Category.addressee} }

def Basque.Pronouns.zuek : PersonalPronoun

zuek — 2pl.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.zuek = { form := "zuek", person := some Person.second, number := some Number.plural }

def Basque.Pronouns.hura : PersonalPronoun

hura — 3sg.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.hura = { form := "hura", person := some Person.third, number := some Number.singular }

def Basque.Pronouns.haiek : PersonalPronoun

haiek — 3pl.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.haiek = { form := "haiek", person := some Person.third, number := some Number.plural }

def Basque.Pronouns.addressee : Grade → PersonalPronoun

The pronoun for a single addressee at each grade.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.addressee Basque.Grade.familiar = Basque.Pronouns.hi
• Basque.Pronouns.addressee Basque.Grade.polite = Basque.Pronouns.zu

def Basque.Pronouns.pronouns : Finset PersonalPronoun

The pronoun inventory.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.pronouns = {Basque.Pronouns.ni, Basque.Pronouns.gu, Basque.Pronouns.hi, Basque.Pronouns.zu, Basque.Pronouns.zuek, Basque.Pronouns.hura, Basque.Pronouns.haiek}

theorem Basque.Pronouns.phi_zu : phi zu = phi zuek

Zu bears the agreement features of the plural zuek.

theorem Basque.Pronouns.referential_zu : zu.referential = hi.referential

Zu denotes a single addressee, as the familiar hi does.

def Basque.Pronouns.allocutive : Grade → Gender → Option Morphology.Morph

The Souletin allocutive suffix for an addressee of each grade and gender. A familiar man takes -k and a familiar woman -n, and an addressee of either sex spoken to with respect -zü.

Equations

• Basque.Pronouns.allocutive Basque.Grade.familiar Gender.masculine = some (Morphology.Morph.suff "k")
• Basque.Pronouns.allocutive Basque.Grade.familiar Gender.feminine = some (Morphology.Morph.suff "n")
• Basque.Pronouns.allocutive Basque.Grade.polite Gender.masculine = some (Morphology.Morph.suff "zü")
• Basque.Pronouns.allocutive Basque.Grade.polite Gender.feminine = some (Morphology.Morph.suff "zü")
• Basque.Pronouns.allocutive x✝¹ x✝ = none

theorem Basque.Pronouns.allocutive_polite : allocutive Grade.polite Gender.masculine = allocutive Grade.polite Gender.feminine

The polite suffix does not mark the addressee's sex.