1. Overview

Fjininya has a highly differentiated pronominal system. Personal pronouns encode person, number, grammatical case, and, in the first person, clusivity and register.

The first-person system distinguishes four number categories:

• Singular: one individual

• Dual: two individuals

• Paucal: three to four individuals

• Plural: five or more individuals

Non-singular first-person pronouns additionally distinguish inclusive and exclusive reference.

Fjininya also has dedicated systems for reflexive pronouns, interrogative and free-relative expressions, quantificational expressions, and identity constructions.

2. Personal Pronouns

2.1 Grammatical Cases

The principal personal-pronoun functions are:

• Nominative: subject of a clause

• Accusative/Dative: direct or indirect object

• Possessive/Genitive: possession or associated relationship

The first-person paradigm distinguishes all three functions. The currently established second-person paradigm distinguishes nominative and accusative forms, while additional forms are documented separately.

3. First-Person Pronouns

3.1 First-Person Number and Clusivity

Fjininya distinguishes singular, dual, paucal, and plural number in the first person.

For non-singular forms, inclusive reference includes the addressee, while exclusive reference excludes the addressee.

A separate formal/royal first-person form is Vanntsj.

3.2 First-Person Case Paradigm

Examples

Jag — first-person singular nominative, I

Nvogt — first-person singular accusative/dative, me

Mainen — first-person singular possessive, my/mine

4. Second-Person Pronouns

The established core second-person paradigm distinguishes singular and plural number and nominative and accusative case.

4.1 Singular

Șu /ʃu/
Second-person singular nominative: you

Șojk /ʃɔjk/
Second-person singular accusative: you

4.2 Plural

Șuệk
Second-person plural nominative: you

Șuntu /ʃun.tu/
Second-person plural accusative: you

An expanded second-person system additionally distinguishes dual, paucal, plural, and possessive forms.

5. Reflexive Pronouns

Fjininya forms reflexive pronouns through the combination of a bound reflexive prefix and a corresponding possessive pronominal base.

There are two reflexive prefixes.

Neither prefix functions independently as a pronoun.

5.1 Singular Reflexive

Öttja't combines with singular possessive forms.

Examples:

• Öttja't mainen — myself

• Öttja't Fokẗẗma — yourself

• Öttja't Sigijnnja — himself / herself / itself

5.2 Non-Singular Reflexive

Îgyaja combines with non-singular possessive forms.

Examples:

• Îgyaja Saighoar — our two selves, inclusive

• Îgyaja Saivhagtsh — our two selves, exclusive

• Îgyaja Saimockts — our selves, paucal inclusive

• Îgyaja Saibaccga — our selves, paucal exclusive

• Îgyaja Saivwasta — our selves, plural inclusive

• Îgyaja Saicotmäska — our selves, plural exclusive

• Îgyaja Jöggtma — our formal/royal selves

The distinction between Öttja't and Îgyaja is therefore grammatical rather than lexical: the choice of prefix is determined by the number of the referent.

6. Interrogative and Free-Relative System

Fjininya forms free-relative expressions from interrogative bases through stem mutation followed by Jihoug cliticization.

The general structure is:

Interrogative Base → Mutated Free-Relative Stem + Jihoug

The mutation may involve internal vowel change, ablaut, consonantal modification, or thematic suffixation.

6.1 Free-Relative Paradigm

6.2 Jihoug

Jihoug functions as a post-positional clitic in the free-relative construction.

It anchors the mutated interrogative stem as an open-ended relative expression.

For example:

Wvekjet → Wvtoyji Jihoug

The interrogative stem therefore does not simply receive a productive equivalent of English -ever. The transformation involves both stem mutation and cliticization.

6.3 Free-Relative Agreement

Free relatives are subject to semantic agreement rules.

Animate free relatives in subject position require singular animate agreement.

Inanimate free relatives trigger neuter agreement, including cases where the semantic interpretation is plural.

7. Quantificational Pronouns and Determiners

Fjininya distinguishes several degrees of quantity and scope.

7.1 Sovi and Sovsije

Sovi /sɔ.vi/ expresses universal quantity.

Sovsije /sɔv.si.jɛ/ is derived from Sovi through the paucal suffix -sije.

The derivation changes the semantic scope from totality to a limited subset:

Sovi → Sovsije

all → several

7.2 Syntactic Position

Quantifiers normally precede the noun phrase they modify.

When Motsjejsso and Letsjov modify scalar predicates, they may occur postverbally and function as adverbial degree modifiers.

7.3 Negative Quantification

Nijektve expresses absolute zero or complete absence.

It additionally requires negative agreement on the main verb.

Thus, negation is represented through both the quantificational expression and the corresponding verbal polarity.

8. Identity and Recognition Construction

Fjininya uses a special Eu + Object construction for identity and presentative expressions corresponding to English "It is X" or "It's X."

The neuter singular pronoun Eu functions as the subject, while the identified entity appears in the accusative/dative form.

8.1 Paradigm

This construction therefore preserves the number and clusivity distinctions of the first-person object paradigm.