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What do we mean by we?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2003

Paul Rastall
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Extract

Some thoughts on a complex pronoun. Some expressions seem so familiar to us that we do not bother to reflect on the meanings they convey. We can be surprised to learn that in some languages, like Malay, it is necessary to distinguish between we referring to the speaker and the interlocutor (kita) and we referring to the speaker and someone other than the interlocutor (kami). Both possibilities are covered by the English we.

Type
Original Articles
Information
English Today , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 50 - 53
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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