Tibetan to Māori: a pair must identify whether the listener belongs to it
Two of us can refer to two different audience relationships
A Tibetan reference to a speaker-containing pair needs an inclusion decision in Māori. The Māori pronoun lesson distinguishes tāua, the speaker and listener, from māua, the speaker and another person excluding the listener. Both identify exactly two people, so a source count alone does not choose between them.
Garrett and Hill’s written Tibetan study distinguishes cardinal gñis, two, from ordinal gñis-pa, second. A numerical source expression must first be interpreted as a real participant count before it can support a target dual. Once two participants are established, identify whether the person hearing the translated message is one of them.
Three or more people require a different group form
The Māori lesson contrasts the dual forms with tātou and mātou for groups of three or more, again distinguishing inclusion of the listener. A Tibetan plural group should consequently not become a pair merely because the translator recognises that the speaker belongs to it.
A Tibetan account can describe the speaker travelling with two companions. That is a three-person group, even though there are two other people. Count everyone included in the source reference rather than using the number of companions as the total. Then establish whether the addressee is among those companions before selecting the target group pronoun.
They also distinguishes a pair from a larger group
The lesson gives rāua for two third persons and rātou for three or more. A Tibetan narrative that first identifies two people and later refers back to them must preserve that count in Māori. The plural material analysed by Garrett and Hill identifies grouping in written Tibetan, but the target may require a more precise distinction.
This matters when an account introduces a pair and a separate third person in neighbouring sentences. The presence of three people in the overall story does not mean that every subsequent they refers to all three. Follow the particular source group being referred to rather than count everyone mentioned anywhere in the passage.
An eyewitness is not automatically one of the participants
Zeisler links Standard Spoken Tibetan epistemic marking with distinctions including perception and personal authority. Neither direct observation nor close knowledge automatically makes the narrator part of an observed group. A Māori first-person plural should be used only where the source referent includes the speaker.
A Tibetan narrator can watch two people travel together without accompanying them. In Māori, those two remain a third-person pair rather than an inclusive or exclusive we. Conversely, if the narrator joins them, the count becomes three and first-person group reference may become relevant. Preserve participation and knowledge separately: who knows about the journey is not necessarily who takes it, and the target pronoun must identify the travellers rather than the information source.
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