Cainye inherits its pronouns from Phúkìming, which were very stratified. There were four levels to the system, superior, inferior, equal, and informal; depending on the social status of the speaker, addressee, or referent; and it is forbidden to refer to people with certain pronouns to respect, or humble, etc.
Cainye mostly abandons this system, and repurposes the excess pronouns, and even derives a few new ones from them. Below is a chart of the pronouns, in the stratification paradigm of Phúkìming.
| Person | Superior | Inferior | Equal | Informal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hóm | nanli | fēngom | xèyân |
| 2 | nim | cì | ké | qéhum |
| 3 | ta¹ | cò | màng | |
¹ - originally "póm", but was lost in Cainye, replaced with ta (borrowed from Chinese 他/她/它)
Below is the new/current personal pronoun paradigm:
| Person | Formal | Informal |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nanli | xèyân (yân) |
| 2 | nim | ké |
| 3 | ta | màng |
Yân, a contraction of xèyân, is interchangable with its full form.
The formal/informal distinction is as you would expect, formal is used for respect, talking to important people (like bosses, collegues, teachers, etc.) and strangers; also in almost all writing except transcriptions of spoken speech, informal dialogue, and direct messaging. Whereas informal is used for the rest.
Anaphora (in linguistics, and for the purposes of this description) is the deletion of words or phrases, or replacement thereof, to avoid repeating them—its most common manifestation is in pronouns, where speakers avoid repeating names or nouns. In Cainye, names are used with the third person pronoun ta, formally, but not informally, or màng replaces it entirely, for example, in the text below...
Yáng Wénlî ta báunghéingi Gālāksī de qáu Dèungāutrên Qômwûnang (LOGH, Legend of the Galactic Heroes) de yàm kù: "Géi dèuqúk kāunngīu làngdi hongqè gān pè kāunngīu." Yáng ta làngdi fénkù Ngīu qáu Yék Xìktá (FPA, Free Planets Alliance) de ngètwè de dèuqìmek, (ta) xosiu munwèm 33 (jôtgit-jôt) fèmàng.
"Yang Wen-li (from Legend of the Galactic Heroes) said: "The greatest freedom, is the freedom to not get involved." He was a Free Planets Alliance space Admiral [I won't bother translating the exact rank], he died at age 33."
Pronouns, subjects, and objects can be occassionally omitted, especially the subject.
Yân nin qâuyóng de de kù, à yéi kù ngéi, dò kù.
"I went to school, then came back, and slept."