Inclusive we is a pronoun or verb conjugation that indicates the inclusion of the speaker, the addressee, and perhaps other people, as opposed to exclusive we, which specifically excludes the addressee. No European language makes this distinction; as in English, there is but one pronoun for the speaker plus other people, regardless of whether 'you' is included. In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase. ... In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection (regular alteration according to rules of grammar). ...

Schematic paradigm

Inclusive-exclusive paradigms may be summarized as a two‐by‐two grid:

Where found

The inclusive-exclusive distinction is nearly universal among the Austronesian languages and the languages of northern Australia, but rare in the Papuan languages in between. (Tok Pisin, an English-Melanesian pidgin, generally has the inclusive-exclusive distinction, but this varies with the speaker's language background.) It is widespread among the Dravidian languages, the Munda languages, and the languages of eastern Siberia, such as Evenki, though it has been lost from some. In America it is found in about half the languages, with no clear geographic or genealogical pattern. It is also found in a few languages of the Caucasus and Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Laal. The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ... The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. ... Tok Pisin (tok means word or speech, pisin means pidgin) is the creole spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran. ... Munda Languages are spoken in north east India. ... Siberia is also an album by Echo & The Bunnymen. ... The Evenk language (Evenki language) (SIL: EVN, ISO 639-2: tut) is the largest of the northern group of the Manchu-Tungus languages, a group which also includes the Even and Negidal languages. ... Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages) are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and Greenland, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. ... The term Caucasian languages is loosely used to refer to a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than 7 million people in the Caucasus region of Eastern Europe, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. ... Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African languages. ... The Laal language is a still-unclassified language spoken by 749 people (as of 2000) in three villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori (lá), Damtar (ɓual), and Mailao. ...

Austronesian languages

In Malay, the pronoun kita is inclusive, and kami is exclusive. That is, you may say "We (kami) will go shopping, and then we (kita) will eat," making it clear that your guest is not to accompany you to the market, but is invited to dinner. What you cannot do is be ambiguous as to whether your guest is included, as you can in English. The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ...

Tagalog has a very similar system with kamí and táyo being respectively the exclusive and inclusive forms. The word kitá (or katá) was originally a dual inclusive pronoun "you and I". However, it has now become a portmanteau pronoun for first plus second person, as in mahál kitá "I love you", originally "you and I are dear." Tagalog (pronunciation: ) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ... A variety of dualities in mathematics are listed at duality (mathematics). ... It has been suggested that blend (linguistics) be merged into this article or section. ...

In other Philippine languages, particularly those spoken in northern Luzon, the use of the dual pronoun is widely used. Kapampangan, for example, has ikata (dual inclusive), ikatamu (plural inclusive), and ikami (exclusive). Ilokano has data/sita, datayo/sitayo, and dakami/sikami. There are over 170 languages of the Philippines; almost all of them belong to the Austronesian language family. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ... Kapampangan is one of the thirteen major languages of the Philippines. ... Ilokano (variants: Ilocano, Iluko, Iloco, and Iloko) is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines. ...

Tausug of Sulu is the only Visayan language which has the dual form. Its pronouns are kita (dual inclusive), kitaniyu (plural inclusive), and kami (exclusive). Tausug is spoken in Sulu province in the Philippines. ... Sulu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). ... The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine language family. ...

Chinese languages

In standard Mandarin, the pronoun wǒmen 我們 "we", which is the plural of the pronoun wǒ 我 "I", is indefinite like its English counterpart. However, in northern Mandarin dialects there is an additional pronoun, zámen 咱們, which is inclusive. In these dialects, wǒmen 我們 is exclusive. Mandarin, or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally official speech), or Beifanghua (Chinese: 北方方言; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ...

Taiwanese is similar. Exclusive goán is the plural of goá "I", while inclusive lán is a separate root also with the plural suffix. Lán may be used to express politeness or solidarity, as in asking a stranger "where do we live?" to mean "where do you live?". Taiwanese (Chinese: 台語, 台灣話; Taiwanese pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ«: Tâi-oân-oÄ“; Hanyu Pinyin: TáiyÇ” or Táiwānhuà) is a dialect of Min Nan spoken by about 70% of the Taiwanese population. ...

Austroasiatic languages

Vietnamese makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we. Among the many Vietnamese pronouns there are chúng ta (inclusive) and chúng tôi (exclusive). "Chúng" is a plural marker derived from Chinese. Vietnamese pronouns are more accurately forms of address. ...

Pidgins

The Chinese pattern, with the plural form of "I" as the exclusive pronoun, is a common one. It is also common for the inclusive pronoun to be composed of the pronouns for "I" and "you". Both are the case in the English-Melanesian-based creole languages Tok Pisin and Bislama, where the inclusive pronoun is a variant of yumi (two people, that is, you + me) or yumipla (for more than two people; -pla or -pela is a plural suffix), and the exclusive pronoun is the plural of "me": mipla. // A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ... Tok Pisin (tok means word or speech, pisin means pidgin) is the creole spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ... Bislama is a Melanesian creole language, one of the official languages of Vanuatu. ...

American languages

In Quechua, both forms, inclusive ñuqanchik and exclusive ñuqayku, are clearly based on the first-person singular pronoun ñuqa, but it is not immediately clear how they relate historically to the second-person pronoun qan or the plural suffix -kuna. Quechua (Runa Simi in Quechua; Runa, human + Simi, speech, literally mouth; i. ...

Aymara has four pronominal roots: Inclusive jiwasa, exclusive naya, second person juma, and third person jupa. All are indefinite as to number apart from jiwasa, which must refer to at least two people. Plurality may be emphasized with the suffix -naka; inclusive jiwasanaka implies at least three people. Verbal conjugations reflect the same four persons. Help wikipedia by translating Spanish article into this article. ...

Another Amerindian language that makes the distinction is Guaraní, with singular che, exclusive ore, and an inclusive ñande that is likely formed from nde 'thou'. Native American languages are the indigenous languages of the Americas, spoken from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America. ... Guaraní (local name: avañeẽ ) is an Amerindian language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily. ...

Additionally, all Algonquian languages make a distinction between first person plural inclusive and exclusive. For example, in Shawnee, the first person plural exclusive independent pronoun is niilawe, the corresponding inclusive pronoun is kiilawe, while the first person singular pronoun is niila and the second person singular pronoun is kiila. The inclusive/exclusive distinction is also made throughout the pronominal inflection of verbs in all Algonquian languages. The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). ... The Shawnee, or Shawano, are a people native to North America. ...

Dravidian languages

In Tamil, the forms are inclusive நாம் (Naam) and exclusive நாங்கள் (NaanGgal) and எங்கள் (enGgal). In Telugu, the forms are inclusive మనము (manamu) and exclusive మేము (memu). In Malayalam, നമ്മള് (nammaL)is the inclusive form of we while ഞങ്ങള് (ñaṅṅaL) is exclusive. Equivalents are also found in Kannada. Telugu (తెలుగు) belongs to the Dravidian language family but with ample influence from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം ) is the language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ...

Distinction in verbs

Where verbs are inflected for person, as in Australia and much of America, the inclusive-exclusive distinction is made there as well. For example, in Passamaquoddy "I/we have it" is expressed It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Narrator. ... The Passamaquoddy are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick. ...

Singular n-tíhin (first person prefix n-)

Exclusive n-tíhin-èn (first person n- + plural suffix -èn)

Inclusive k-tíhin-èn (inclusive prefix k- + plural -èn)

Singular we

There is an interesting twist with inclusive pronouns in Samoan. In this language, as in the related languages Malay and Tagalog, there are two separate roots for "we", inclusive ’ita and exclusive ’ima. Unlike in those languages, the Samoan pronouns must be used with the dual suffix -’ua or the plural suffix -tou to mean "we".

However, the inclusive pronoun ’ita may also occur on its own as a singular pronoun. In this case it means "I", but with a connotation of appealing or asking for indulgence, rather like the concept of amae in Japanese. That is, by using ’ita instead of the normal word for "I", a’u, you are involving the other person in statements about yourself. The word singular may refer to one of several concepts. ... Dual is the grammatical number used for two referents. ... Look up Plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Narrator. ... Amae (甘え) is a Japanese word used to describe behaviour aimed at inducing another (such as a parent, spouse, teacher or boss) to take care of you. ...

Reference

• Thomas E Payne, 1997. Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58224-5