One of the features of a language that can reveal the most about its underlying philosophies is how it implements pronouns. Obviously, we’ll start with English. The most notable features are a separation of sexes into definite, grammatical genders, and its distinction between subject/object position of (most) pronouns. Also of note is that possession is directly encoded. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that English speaking countries seem to have deeply ingrained notions of both gender roles and capitalistic thinking? Feel free to skip over the list here to the rest of the text, I’ve included it mostly for reference.

First person, singular: I (subject), me (object), my (possessive determiner), mine (possessive object), myself (reflexive pronoun)

Second person, singular: you (object/subject), your (possessive determiner), yours (possessive object), yourself (reflexive pronoun)



Third person, singular: he/she/it/they (subject), him/her/it/them (object), his/her/its/their (possessive determiner), his/hers/its/theirs (possessive object), himself/herself/itself/themself (reflexive pronoun)

First person, plural**: we (subject), us (object), our (possessive determiner), ours (possessive object), ourselves (reflexive pronoun)



Second person, plural: you (subject/object), your (possessive determiner), yours (posessive object), yourselves (reflexive pronoun)



Third person, plural: they (subject), them (object), their (possessive determiner), theirs (possessive object), themselves (reflexive pronoun)

An additional point of interest is that English has fully realized reflexive encoding. This is used to specify that the reflexive pronoun refers to the immediate preceding noun, and is useful in eliminating ambiguity. The sentence “They don’t like them.” does not make clear whether the person in question has self distaste, or negative feelings toward another party. “They don’t like themself,” makes it clear which of the two is the case.

Below, I’ve listed the various pronouns in Lodenkur. I’m giving the converted IPA pronunciations, rather than the native Lodenkur script here.

Lodenkur Pronouns:

First person, singular: hɑː↘kuː (I)

Second person, singular: hɑː↗kuː (you)

Third person, singular: hɑːkuːjæ (they, speaking to an equal), hɑːkuː↗jæ (they, speaking to a superior/elder), hɑːkuː↘jæ (they, speaking to an inferior/younger)

First person, plural: dɛ kuː↘jæ (we/us, lit “not them”, inclusive)

Second person, plural: hɑːŋhɑː↗kuː (you, lit “big you”)

Third person, plural: dɛhɑː↘kuː (them, lit: “not-me”)

Lodenore, my current primary language, encodes much less in pronouns. Additional meaning is specified by grammatical particles and helper words. The Lodenore system is much more simplistic. As you can see, the plural forms of each are simply modified version of singular pronouns. The only part that has significant complexity is referring to others in the third person.

The reason for this is that it is very important to show others that you’re aware of how they view your social relationship to those not present. Additionally, it can subtly hint at how you wish to be seen. Using a pronoun of equality between yourself and a superior could imply insubordination, or an opinion that they are unfit. Using the same word when speaking of someone below your station is high praise. Using anything except the pronoun of equality in informal situations makes you look like you’re stuck up.

The most interesting part of various pronoun systems is that they actively enforce thinking on the speakers. If you learn to speak Lodenore and do so, you will become acutely aware of social stations and relative ages of those you interact with. You can’t help it. That philosophy will be forced into you. Likewise, when I learned English, I found myself looking at the concept of ownership in new ways.

Consider how odd it is that you integrate the concept of possession into your pronouns. It is so closely tied to your concept of self that you don’t use separate words. That… I don’t know. That bothers me. That doesn’t seem like a good way to think to me.

* “They” as a singular, gender neutral pronoun is still gaining acceptance as standard English. It should be pretty obvious where I stand on this.

**Clusivity defines whether a word such as “we” includes the person being spoken to. If I tell you “We are getting ice cream,” I could be indicating that I will take you with me for a treat, or that I’m going to take someone else.