Universal 518: gender (Plural pronoun) ⇒ gender (Singular pronoun)

Original: If there are any gender distinctions in the plural of the pronoun, there are some gender distinctions in the singular also.
Standardized: IF there are any gender distinctions in the plural of the pronoun, THEN there are some gender distinctions in the singular also.
Keywords: pronoun, gender, number, plural, singular
Domain: inflection
Type: implication
Status: achronic
Quality: statistical
Basis: 30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample
Source: Greenberg 1963: 96, #45

Counterexamples: 1. Tahaggart, Tuareg, Kabyle, Proto-Berber (?!) (Afro-Asiatic) have gender contrast in 1/2/3PL and in 2SG, but not in 3SG (for details see Plank & Schellinger 1997). 2. Languages distinguishing gender in all persons and numbers except for 1SG: Ntifa independent subject pronouns(Berber, Afro-Asiatic), Hadza, Nama (both Khoisan) (for details see Plank & Schellinger 1997).3. A number of Austronesian languages distinguish animate/non-animate forms in the plural only. Biak (South Halmahera-West New Guinea, Austronesian) has animate/inanimate forms for 3PL pronouns and demonstratives, but not in the SG, DU, or TR. An animate/inanimate oppostion is reconstructed for 3PL in South Solomonic languages (Steinhauer 1985, 1986, Plank & Schellinger 1997, cited in Aikhenvald 2000: 244)

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