What do Jephthah’s first-person singular pronouns demonstrate in his speech?

It is not hard to notice the change in Jephthah’s tone since his interactions with the Gileadites and Ammonites in chapter 11. Though he now makes a reference to my people, his use in Judges 12:2–3 of first-person singular pronouns shows that the Ephraimite complaint was a personal matter to him. He does not respond to their complaint with diplomacy; he meets their battle challenge with a challenge of his own that makes war inevitable. His response shows no concern for Israel’s inter-tribal solidarity.¹ Inter-tribal relations have become so strained that the war efforts have become an I and my people issue, a tribal issue, rather than an issue for all of Israel.