inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 2:14)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

The Copainalá Zoque translators chose an exclusive form, because “we take this to refer to Paul and his associates speaking of their ministry” (source: Roy and Margaret Harrison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 173ff.), whereas SIL International Translation Department) describes this as a case where either the inclusive or the exclusive pronoun could be used (and where, if inclusive, this could refer to only Paul or Paul and his associates).

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