Universal #1452

Legacy number: 1452

 Number  1448
 Original  In an overwhelming majority of languages, if the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular is not the only meaning expressed by some pronominal form, then this form includes among its meanings the metapersons:
(a) 'hearer' in the non-singular;
(b) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'
 Standardized  IF the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular is not the only meaning expressed by a pronominal form, THEN this form includes among its meanings the metapersons:
a) 'hearer' in the non-singular;
b) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'
 Keywords  personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, singular, non-singular, 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 10

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
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).