Universal #1480

Legacy number: 1480

 Number  1476
 Original  In an overwhelming majority of languages, if some form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', then it cannot denote the following metapersons:
(a) 'speaker';
(b) 'hearer';
(c) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'.
 Standardized  IF some form denotes metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the following metapersons:
(a) 'speaker';
(b) 'hearer';
(c) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'.
 Keywords  personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, 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: 95, U 39

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Discussion
Counterexamples
To (a): Kawi (=Old Javanese), Javanese (both Sundic, W. Malayo-Polynesian), Nimboran (Trans-New Guinea) (Sokolovskaja 1980);Marind (Trans-New Guinea)(Drabbe 1955 [Boelaars 1950: 2]) has a single form denoting the metapersons 'speaker' and 'speaker + hearer(s)' or 'speaker' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. (EF);To (b) and (c): Haitian (Creole, French-based), Navajo (Athabaskan), Marathi (Indic, Indo-European) (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).