Journal

Lecture notes

In the tongan language there is a speaker and a listener.  Conversations are framed to be either inclusive of the listener/speaker, or exclusive of the listener/speaker.  The choice of pronouns shows whether or not the listener is included in the conversation. The choice of pronouns also shows if you are talking about 1, 2, or 3 +  people.

For example mau is the pronoun that you would choose if you are talking about 3+ people but not the people you are speaking to.



In the language there are preposed and postposed pronouns.  You can drop the the postponed because it is not widely used in speech.  Preposed cannot be dropped or substituted for the postponed pronoun.
 This may seem repetitive, but in the contexts of the language it is not.  In conversation, when using both it emphasizes the verb, not  the pronouns.  Postponed pronouns in modern conversation usually drop the the ki in front of the ki(tau,mau,mou,nau)tolu To make tautolu.