Universal #1938

Legacy number: 1938

 Number  1932
 Original  If there is a word-form loan of other than negative indefinite (excluding determiners), then it is likely that there will be a word-form loan of a negative indefinite of the same ontological category, too.
 Standardized  IF there is a word-form borrowing of other than negative indefinite (excluding determiners), THEN it is likely that there will be a word-form borrowing of a negative indefinite of the same ontological category, too.
 Formula  indefinite other than negative indefinite is borrowed ⇒ negative indefinite is borrowed
 Keywords  borrowing, indefinite pronoun, negative indefinite
 Domain  lexicon, morphology
 Type  implication
 Status  diachronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  mainly based on survey of Romani dialects (Indo-Aryan, IE), but also Aromunian (E. Romance, IE), Chamorro (W. Malayo-Polynesian), Saami (Finno-Ugric, Uralic), Swahili (Benue-Congo, Niger-Congo), Spanish (Romance, IE), Persian (Iranian, IE), Turkic languages, Dardic languages, Albanian (Albanian, IE), Kormakita Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic) and others
 Source  Elšík 2001: 139

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Romani of Ajia Varvara (Greece): personal non-negative indefinite ‘kapjos’ (=someone) is a word-form loan from Greek (used alongside indigenous ‘kaj dÏeno’ (=someone)), but the personal negative indefinite ‘khonik (+ NEG)’ (=no-one) is indigenous (Elsík 2001: 134, 143)
Notes
Indefinite pronouns usually occur in series which have one member for each of the major ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORIES such as person, thing, property, place, manner, amount, plus a few others. Cf. English SOME-series, person: SOMEBODY, thing: SOMETHING, place: SOMEWHERE, time: SOMETIME, manner: SOMEHOW, determiner: SOME. (Haspelmath 1997).The terminology used by Elsík partly differs from Haspelmath’s: Elsík’s ‘personal’ = Haspelmath’s ‘person’, Elsík’s ‘impersonal’ = Haspelmath’s ‘thing’, Elsík’s ‘local’ = Haspelmath’s ‘place’, Elsík’s ‘temporal’ = Haspelmath’s ‘time’.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Indefinite pronouns usually occur in series which have one member for each of the major ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORIES such as person, thing, property, place, manner, amount, plus a few others. Cf. English SOME-series, person: SOMEBODY, thing: SOMETHING, place: SOMEWHERE, time: SOMETIME, manner: SOMEHOW, determiner: SOME. (Haspelmath 1997). The terminology used by Elšík partly differs from Haspelmath's: Elšík's 'personal' = Haspelmath's 'person', Elšík's 'impersonal' = Haspelmath's 'thing', Elšík's 'local' = Haspelmath's 'place', Elšík's 'temporal' = Haspelmath's 'time'.