Re: Pronouns, where are they?

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jacques Guy wrote:

> Alas, Brian, even in languages that have pronouns
> usage can make them very, very scarce.

That is the case with Polish and (I think) other
Slavic languages. Pronouns are only used when
person suffix to the verb is not enough 
(ie. the meaning might be ambiguous).
For example (Polish):

Kiedy przyszedl, zjedlismy obiad i znow wyszedl.
When [he] came, [we] had dinner and [he] again went out.

> You find the same in Breton, and Pierre Jakez Helias
> explains it in his books on Breton culture: you
> should avoid addressing people directly. If you
> want to ask "where are you going?" the proper way
> of doing it is "where is one going?" 

In Polish and Czech there is similar usage to
show respect. The former uses "mister/madam",
the latter - plural number (without pronoun).
But also informal usage (without special respect)
has no pronouns, eg.:

Where are you going?
Kam jdes?        (Czech)
Kam jdete?       (Czech with respect)
Dokad idziesz?   (Polish)
Dokad pan idzie? (Polish with respect)


Best regards,

Rafal