• SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    First person = someone describing their own point of view (ex: I, me)

    Second person = someone being addressed (ex: you, y’all)

    Third person = someone talking about someone else (ex: they, them)

    Fourth person = the point of view of a collective group (ex: we, us)

    • Rolando@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I can’t tell if you’re making a joke or not, but when I learned it “we” was first person plural. Likewise “y’all” was second person plural, etc.

      • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        The difference is that we as a first person plural is generally used for a more discrete group of people, but still from the perspective of a single narrator. Fourth person we is generally used for a collective of people with a shared perspective; there is no single narrator that is separate from the collective group, the entire group is there narrator. Fourth person is a concept that has only recently begun to be recognized as a distinct point of view.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Fourth person

      Doesn’t exist. We/us is first person plural. Some languages have a little complexity here (e.g. Tagalog has “kami” which means “we without you” and “tayo” which means “we with you,” but they’re both still first person plurals).

      • first person - speaker
      • second person - audience excluding speaker
      • third person - everything else
      • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Some linguists disagree and have recently begun accepting the existence of a fourth person point of view. Languages evolve, and I guess we’ll just have to see if it catches on and becomes more widely accepted in the future.