Do you know any languages with any long words for personal pronouns like I, you, me, they, he, she etc?
I, you, me, they etc (always so short words?)
Brazilian Portuguese has longer words:
eu, você*, ele
a gente (or nós), vocês, eles
aside from EU all personal pronouns in Brazilian portuguese have 2 syllables, and the expression A GENTE (used much more in modern Brazilian Portuguese than the classic pronoun nós) has 3 syllables
eu queria bater um papo = i would like to chat
você queria bater um papo = you would like to chat
ele queria bater um papo = he would like to chat
a gente queria bater um papo = we would like to chat
vocês queriam bater um papo = you (all) would like to chat
eles queriam bater um papo = they would like to chat
Since, in Brazilian Portuguese, there are few verbal forms used, personal pronoun is almost always repeated/used. In the examples above there are only two verbal forms QUERIA and QUERIAM. Brazilian Portuguese acts as French and English and not as Continental Portuguese, Spanish, Italian when it comes to subject pronouns usage...
eu, você*, ele
a gente (or nós), vocês, eles
aside from EU all personal pronouns in Brazilian portuguese have 2 syllables, and the expression A GENTE (used much more in modern Brazilian Portuguese than the classic pronoun nós) has 3 syllables
eu queria bater um papo = i would like to chat
você queria bater um papo = you would like to chat
ele queria bater um papo = he would like to chat
a gente queria bater um papo = we would like to chat
vocês queriam bater um papo = you (all) would like to chat
eles queriam bater um papo = they would like to chat
Since, in Brazilian Portuguese, there are few verbal forms used, personal pronoun is almost always repeated/used. In the examples above there are only two verbal forms QUERIA and QUERIAM. Brazilian Portuguese acts as French and English and not as Continental Portuguese, Spanish, Italian when it comes to subject pronouns usage...
In Polish:
ja, ty, on, ona, ono; my, wy, oni
(komu? czemu?)
mnie, tobie, jemu, jej, jemu; nam, wam, im.
ja, ty, on, ona, ono; my, wy, oni
(komu? czemu?)
mnie, tobie, jemu, jej, jemu; nam, wam, im.
Japanese:
watashi I, me
anata you
kare he, him
kanojo she, her
watachi-tachi we, us
anata-tachi you people
ano hito-tachi they
watashi I, me
anata you
kare he, him
kanojo she, her
watachi-tachi we, us
anata-tachi you people
ano hito-tachi they
Spanish has a few long ones, especially in the plural:
singular: yo, tu, él, ella, usted
plural: nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes
singular: yo, tu, él, ella, usted
plural: nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes
Les pronoms personnels sujets sont phonétiquement très courts en français :
[Z2]-------------<je>
[ty]--------------<tu>
[il]---------------<il>
[El]--------------<elle>
[Õ]--------------<on>
[nu]-------------<nous>
[vu]-------------<vous>
[il]---------------<ils>
[El]--------------<elles>
[Z2]-------------<je>
[ty]--------------<tu>
[il]---------------<il>
[El]--------------<elle>
[Õ]--------------<on>
[nu]-------------<nous>
[vu]-------------<vous>
[il]---------------<ils>
[El]--------------<elles>
Italiano:
singolare:
io - I
tu - you (informal)
lei - she
lui - he
Lei - you (formal)
plurale:
noi - we
voi - you
loro - they
singolare:
io - I
tu - you (informal)
lei - she
lui - he
Lei - you (formal)
plurale:
noi - we
voi - you
loro - they
I believe that laziness -- let's call it the desire for efficiency :-) -- makes us want to shorten commonly used words, and over time this usually takes place. Looking at a list of the most common words in Engish, I see that almost all of them are short, usually one syllable. http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~qstout/586/bncfreq.html
I'd be curious to know if there are languages in which the opposite takes place, for instance, all the personal pronouns are long. As Mitch points out, Spanish has just a few (and those are usually omitted except when needed for emphasis). One of the two-syllable ones, 'usted', was once even longer -- 'vuestra merced' (your grace) -- having been lengthened as a special sign of respect. Once it became used as a common non-deferential term, though, it gradually lost some of its length ('vuestra merced' - 'vuesa merced' - 'vusted' - 'usted').
Also I'd expect that words of alarm would be short. Actually I'm rather surprised that English uses 'watch out!' or -- for something less dangerous -- 'careful!', both with more than one syllable. Maybe the tone and volume of the first syllable are enough to convey the warning that something important is about to happen. Spanish has three syllables for 'help! (socorro), another word that I'd expect to be short. In Morse code it's 'SOS' , dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot. I could have been even shorter, but with radio signals an extremely short signal could be covered by static. I don't know if some length would be useful with words of warning too.
I'd expect, based on Darwin's theory of natural selection, that primitive peoples who had effective words of warning (about predators, for instance) would tend to survive at a greater rate. Whether this would still be an important factor with modern languages I don't know. The survival value of a bird's alarm call is obvious. With complex human societies, though -- especially modern ones -- it's hard to isolate what contributes to survival and what doesn't.
[Sorry for the rambling and idle speculation. I just let one thought lead to another.]
I'd be curious to know if there are languages in which the opposite takes place, for instance, all the personal pronouns are long. As Mitch points out, Spanish has just a few (and those are usually omitted except when needed for emphasis). One of the two-syllable ones, 'usted', was once even longer -- 'vuestra merced' (your grace) -- having been lengthened as a special sign of respect. Once it became used as a common non-deferential term, though, it gradually lost some of its length ('vuestra merced' - 'vuesa merced' - 'vusted' - 'usted').
Also I'd expect that words of alarm would be short. Actually I'm rather surprised that English uses 'watch out!' or -- for something less dangerous -- 'careful!', both with more than one syllable. Maybe the tone and volume of the first syllable are enough to convey the warning that something important is about to happen. Spanish has three syllables for 'help! (socorro), another word that I'd expect to be short. In Morse code it's 'SOS' , dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot. I could have been even shorter, but with radio signals an extremely short signal could be covered by static. I don't know if some length would be useful with words of warning too.
I'd expect, based on Darwin's theory of natural selection, that primitive peoples who had effective words of warning (about predators, for instance) would tend to survive at a greater rate. Whether this would still be an important factor with modern languages I don't know. The survival value of a bird's alarm call is obvious. With complex human societies, though -- especially modern ones -- it's hard to isolate what contributes to survival and what doesn't.
[Sorry for the rambling and idle speculation. I just let one thought lead to another.]
I suppose that Japanese would qualify as a language with long subject pronouns. The Japanese have a reputation for being especially polite and attaching great importance to ceremony. In the case of the Spanish 'vuestra merced' too politeness was a cause of unusual length. Maybe that's the main obstacle to subject pronoun shortening.
The second person plural in informal usage in many NAE dialects is a bit on the longer side as pronouns go, being "you guys", which is /ju."gaIz/ -> [ju."ga:Iz] or [j@."ga:Iz], but this is not surprising considering that it is effectively a grammaticalized instance of nominal composition, and is similar to other longer forms like "vosotros" in European Castilian and like.
As far as I know, the longest personal pronouns in the Uralic family of languages are in Southern Saami (there are 6 literal Saami tongues, and 4 almost extinct dialects that could be classified as languages). Southern Saami is spoken by less than 500 people in Central Norway and Sweden.
manne - I
datne - you
satne - he/she
månnoeh - we two
dåtnoeh - you two
såtnoeh - they two
mijjieh - we (at least three)
dijjieh - you (at least three)
sijjieh - they (at least three)
Most Saami languages have dual forms in addition to singular and plural.
Dual existed also in Proto-Indo-European, and if I am correct, is still in use in Slovenian (which is otherwise also a rather archaic Slavic language) and also in Lithuanian (which is by far the most archaic living Indo-European language, as is mentioned elsewhere in Antimoon).
In Uralic languages personal pronouns are not necessary because the verbal endings show the person, as in Spanish and Italian. Therefore, long pronoun names aren´t necessarily a heavy burden.
Finnish personal pronouns: minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he.
(colloquial: mä(ä), sä(ä), se, me, te, ne - shortening has taken place because they are not omitted in everyday speech)
manne - I
datne - you
satne - he/she
månnoeh - we two
dåtnoeh - you two
såtnoeh - they two
mijjieh - we (at least three)
dijjieh - you (at least three)
sijjieh - they (at least three)
Most Saami languages have dual forms in addition to singular and plural.
Dual existed also in Proto-Indo-European, and if I am correct, is still in use in Slovenian (which is otherwise also a rather archaic Slavic language) and also in Lithuanian (which is by far the most archaic living Indo-European language, as is mentioned elsewhere in Antimoon).
In Uralic languages personal pronouns are not necessary because the verbal endings show the person, as in Spanish and Italian. Therefore, long pronoun names aren´t necessarily a heavy burden.
Finnish personal pronouns: minä, sinä, hän, me, te, he.
(colloquial: mä(ä), sä(ä), se, me, te, ne - shortening has taken place because they are not omitted in everyday speech)
Less formal japanese pronouns are shorter.
For example:
I - boku (young males), washi (older ones)
you - kimi
For example:
I - boku (young males), washi (older ones)
you - kimi