Clusives

Clusives is a term used in linguistics to describe a grammatical distinction in the first-person plural that marks whether the listener is included or excluded from the group referred to as “we.” In languages with clusivity, there are typically two forms or sets of forms for the first-person plural: inclusive we, which includes the addressee, and exclusive we, which excludes the addressee. Some languages extend this system with additional distinctions such as dual or plural subsets, or with separate morphological marking on verbs or demonstratives.

The clusivity distinction can be encoded in pronouns, in verb morphology, or in clitics attached to words. In many languages, pronouns carry the primary contrast (for example, a single pair of inclusive and exclusive forms), while in others the distinction appears on the verb complex or through different noun or demonstrative forms used with the pronoun. The presence or absence of clusivity, and the exact system, varies widely across languages and language families.

Distribution and examples. Indonesian and Malay provide a classic case: kita (inclusive) versus kami (exclusive). In many Philippine languages, including Tagalog, a similar pattern exists with inclusive and exclusive first-person plural forms such as tayo (inclusive) and kami (exclusive). Clusivity is particularly common in Austronesian languages but appears in some languages across the world, where it interacts with social context, discourse, and politeness. In linguistic typology, clusivity is a standard feature discussed alongside person, number, and gender marking, and it sheds light on how languages encode social relationships in grammar.