Universal #1451

Legacy number: 1451

 Number  1447
 Original  In an overwhelming majority of languages, if some pronominal form denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular, it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)',
(b) 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)',
(c) 'non-participant'
 Standardized  IF a pronominal form denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular, it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)',
(b) 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)',
(c) 'non-participant'
 Keywords  personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, singular, speaker, non-participant
 Domain  inflection, syntax, lexicon
 Type  implication
 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 9

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Discussion
Counterexamples
To (a) and (b): Haitian (Creole, French-based), Marathi (Indic, Indo-European);To (c): Marathi (Indic, Indo-European), Aleut (Eskimo-Aleut) (Sokolovskaja 1980).
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).