<p>There are many languages without case distinctions on their pronouns. Mandarin, Japanese, and Arabic are some especially prominent examples (although Arabic does have special clitic pronouns that can be attached to verbs to mark the object).</p>
<p>To someone who speaks one of these languages, the lack of case does not sound at all cave-man-ish.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-08T09:50:47.340Z
2021-12-08T09:50:47.340Z
Tristan
<p>To add on to Tristan's answer, most Bantu languages also lack case.</p>
<p>In Swahili, for example, <em>mimi</em> can mean either &quot;I&quot; or &quot;me&quot;, <em>yeye</em> either &quot;he&quot; or &quot;him&quot; (or &quot;she&quot; or &quot;her&quot; or…), and so on. Word order makes the relationship clear: objects come after the verb, subjects come before. So even ignoring agreement marking, it's clear that <em>mimi ninapenda yeye</em> means &quot;I love him&quot;, not &quot;he loves me&quot;.</p>
<p>Swahili also allows pronouns to be incorporated into the verb itself, as an alternate way of indicating subjects and objects. For example, in <em><strong>ni</strong>na<strong>m</strong>penda</em>, the <em>ni</em> means the subject is first person singular, and the <em>m</em> means the object is third person singular: again clearly &quot;I love him&quot; rather than &quot;he loves me&quot;.</p>
<p>English has a few lingering relics of case marking on pronouns, but if you look at nouns, it should be clear that they're not really necessary. In a sentence like &quot;the scientist loves the engineer&quot;, there's no case marking at all, but it's completely unambiguous who's the subject and who's the object. The fact that we still have different forms for &quot;I&quot; versus &quot;me&quot; is more a historical accident than anything that actually carries functional load.</p>

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2021-12-29T23:47:00.527Z
2021-12-29T23:47:00.527Z
Draconis
<p>I am working on a conlang and would like to treat &quot;I&quot; or &quot;me&quot; or &quot;myself&quot; as one thing, &quot;me&quot;, as a noun I guess. Are there languages that do this, that don't have these distinctions? If so, what are some key examples? As a bonus, what are some things they do instead, or where can I look for more information?</p>
<p>I want to say something like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>me - see - tree<br/>
me - see - the - tree</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But have it sound, well, not so caveperson like. So wondering if other languages do this, and how they can &quot;cope&quot; without these distinctions/features.</p>

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2021-12-08T09:32:07.317Z
I think it only sounds 'caveperson-like' because it is wrong in English. In a foreign language that wouldn't be the case, eg (assuming you don't speak German): _Mich sehen den Baum_. Sounds cave-like to me, but probably not to people who don't speak it.
Oliver Mason
<vocabulary><pronouns>
What are some key languages which don't have distinctions between me, myself, and I?
# What are some key languages which don't have distinctions between me, myself, and I?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-07)

I am working on a conlang and would like to treat "I" or "me" or "myself" as one thing, "me", as a noun I guess. Are there languages that do this, that don't have these distinctions? If so, what are some key examples? As a bonus, what are some things they do instead, or where can I look for more information?

I want to say something like:

> me - see - tree  
> me - see - the - tree

But have it sound, well, not so caveperson like. So wondering if other languages do this, and how they can "cope" without these distinctions/features.

**Tags:** vocabulary, pronouns

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think it only sounds 'caveperson-like' because it is wrong in English. In a foreign language that wouldn't be the case, eg (assuming you don't speak German): _Mich sehen den Baum_. Sounds cave-like to me, but probably not to people who don't speak it.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-12-08. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

There are many languages without case distinctions on their pronouns. Mandarin, Japanese, and Arabic are some especially prominent examples (although Arabic does have special clitic pronouns that can be attached to verbs to mark the object).

To someone who speaks one of these languages, the lack of case does not sound at all cave-man-ish.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2021-12-29. Score: 1

To add on to username_2's answer, most Bantu languages also lack case.

In Swahili, for example, *mimi* can mean either "I" or "me", *yeye* either "he" or "him" (or "she" or "her" or…), and so on. Word order makes the relationship clear: objects come after the verb, subjects come before. So even ignoring agreement marking, it's clear that *mimi ninapenda yeye* means "I love him", not "he loves me".

Swahili also allows pronouns to be incorporated into the verb itself, as an alternate way of indicating subjects and objects. For example, in ***ni**na**m**penda*, the *ni* means the subject is first person singular, and the *m* means the object is third person singular: again clearly "I love him" rather than "he loves me".

English has a few lingering relics of case marking on pronouns, but if you look at nouns, it should be clear that they're not really necessary. In a sentence like "the scientist loves the engineer", there's no case marking at all, but it's completely unambiguous who's the subject and who's the object. The fact that we still have different forms for "I" versus "me" is more a historical accident than anything that actually carries functional load.


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