Divehi to Lower Sorbian: identify the people before choosing dual and gender forms
A source phrase can identify two people without a dual pronoun
Gnanadesikan explains that modern standard Divehi often refers to third-person groups through demonstrative noun phrases rather than a single plural pronoun. Her e-de-mīhun̊ means those two people, with a numeral between the demonstrative and the human noun. The quantity is explicit even though it is not expressed through a separate grammatical dual series.
Lower Sorbian has a dual personal paradigm. Stone gives wonej as a third-person dual subject form, alongside the plural woni. A target referring back to the source pair should therefore not default to the form for a larger group merely because the Divehi expression contains a plural human noun. Its complete phrase supplies the relevant number.
A noun phrase’s width does not tell us its headcount
Divehi third-person reference can use an expression meaning those people, that group of people or a more specific description. The grammar distinguishes these phrases from simple pronouns and notes their ordinary nominal plural formation. Their multiple components do not necessarily indicate multiple independent participants in addition to the people described.
For a Lower Sorbian account of a meeting, determine whether the source group contains exactly two people or an unspecified larger set. Only the first supports a definite dual reference. A short phrase meaning those two people may require a dual target form, whereas a longer phrase describing a group may leave the number open. Word count and grammatical category are poor substitutes for the source’s actual quantity.
A singular reference can leave gender open
Gnanadesikan’s nonhonorific human singular forms ēnā and mīnā can refer to a male or female person. Their demonstrative components distinguish reference related to that or this, rather than establishing an obligatory he–she contrast. The grammar explicitly chooses English gendered translations according to each example’s original context.
Stone’s Lower Sorbian singular subject forms include masculine won and feminine wona. Selecting between them therefore requires identifying the source referent, rather than assuming that a familiar Divehi human pro-form already marks the same distinction. A source message may provide a name or gender-specific description elsewhere; if it does not, the target choice cannot be justified from the pro-form alone.
Case and number are separate target decisions
Stone’s first- and second-person dual tables distinguish subject mej and wej from forms such as naju and waju in accusative or genitive functions, and nama and wama in dative functions. Retaining a pair consequently involves more than substituting one dual word everywhere. The phrase’s role within each target clause still matters.
Read a Divehi message’s participant relationships before producing Lower Sorbian references. Determine who is acting, who is receiving something and who is linked to a possession, as well as the number of people involved. The source’s demonstrative, human noun and numeral can jointly establish a reference that the target expresses through a compact inflected form. Preserving that reference requires the appropriate number and case, while singular gender selection may require additional contextual evidence. The comparison concerns the northern and standard Malé Divehi patterns described in the cited grammar.
Language references