Universal #1449

Legacy number: 1449

 Number  1445
 Original  In an overwhelming majority of languages, there is a special form to denote the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular.
 Standardized  In an overwhelming majority of languages, there is a special form to denote the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular.
 Keywords  personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, singular
 Domain  inflection, syntax, lexicon
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  400 world-wide distributed languages, see Sokolovskaja 1980: 98-99; Sokolovskaja surveyed systems of independent personal pronouns only.
 Source  Sokolovskaja 1980: 91, U 7

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Khmer (Mon-Khmer, Austroasiatic), Kawi (=Old Javanese), Javanese (both Sundic, W. Malayo-Polynesian), Nimboran (Trans-New Guinea), Thai (Daic, Austroasiatic), Sioux (Siouan), Siyin (Burmic, Sino-Tibetan), Haitian, Martinique (both Creole, French-based), Sranan (Creole, English-based), some Spanish dialects spoken in America, Aleut (Eskimo-Aleut) (Sokolovskaja 1980);Aymara, Jaqaru (Andean), where personal pronominal forms are not specified for number, i.e. the form X can be used referring to 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', 'hearer' in non-singular, as well as to 'hearer' in singular. E.g. Aymara YUMA means ‘thou, you’ (for details see Hardman-de-Bautista 1974: 32-3, Hardman 1966) (EF)
Notes
Sokolovskaja recognizes the following metapersons:'speaker', 'hearer', 'non-participant', 'speaker + hearer(s)', 'speaker + non-participant(s)', 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', and 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Sokolovskaja recognizes the following metapersons: 'speaker', 'hearer', 'non-participant', 'speaker + hearer(s)', 'speaker + non-participant(s)', 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', and 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s).