Universal #1949
Legacy number: 1949
| Number | 1943 |
| Original | It appears to be only indicators of the 1st and 2nd person which combine to form new pronouns. (but see Comments) |
| Standardized | IF indicators of any persons combine to form new pronouns, THEN the combination of 1st and 2nd person singular also occurs. |
| Keywords | pronoun, personal pronoun, 1st person, 2nd person |
| Domain | morphology |
| Type | implication |
| Status | diachronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | unspecified |
| Source | Greenberg 1993: 17 |
Discussion
Notes
There are a few languages in which extensive combinations of a fundamental set of pronouns occur. An example is Bamileke, a member of a group of languages closely related to but not identical with Bantu. However, it appears that in such cases a combination of 1st and 2nd singular always occurs, so that the statement [...] would be downgraded to an implicational one. More importantly however, such combinations are facultative in their use as against the fundamental pronouns of which they are composed. (Greenberg 1993:17, fn. 6)
Comment
There are a few languages in which extensive combinations of a fundamental set of pronouns occur. An example is Bamileke, a member of a group of languages closely related to but not identical with Bantu. However, it appears that in such cases a combination of 1st and 2nd singular always occurs, so that the statement [...] would be downgraded to an implicational one. More importantly however, such combinations are facultative in their use as against the fundamental pronouns of which they are composed. (Greenberg 1993: 17, fn. 6)
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