Mixtepec Mixtec personal pronouns
(ISO code mix)

A pronoun is a word which substitutes for a noun or noun phrase[1]. A language can have various types of pronouns, such as: personal pronouns, reflexive[2] pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns, etc. Here, we focus only on the personal pronouns in Mixtepec Mixtec.

Personal pronouns can be classified according to person, number, and gender, and according to the relationship between the speaker and the audience. That is, choice of the proper pronoun depends on who is speaking to whom. Pronouns which are determined by the relationship between the speaker and the hearer(s) are honorific and familiar pronouns. There are also special pronouns for divinity, animals, inanimate objects, trees, children, water, and spherical objects.

These pronouns are also called pronominal clitics because they can be attached to the end of almost any kind of word, though the full forms of the pronouns generally only occur after a verb or a noun. (There are also emphatic pronouns, which can occur either before or after the verb.) When used after a verb, the pronoun marks its subject, as in sketa ra [run he(honorific)] ‘he runs’. When placed after a noun, the pronoun indicates its possessor, as in nto'o ra [basket he(honorific)] ‘his basket’.

For more examples, see the Tables of Mixtepec Mixtec personal pronouns.

—María M. Nieves