Universal #400

Legacy number: 400

 Number  399
 Original  If a language indicates number in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronoun by inflection, it does so also in the 3rd person.
 Standardized  IF number is indicated by inflection in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronouns, THEN it is indicated by inflection in the 3rd person.
 Formula  inflectional number(1 &/V. 2 person pronoun ) ⇒ inflectional number (3 person pronoun)
 Keywords  number, personal pronoun, person, 1, 2, 3
 Domain  inflection
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  almost absolute
 Basis  languages mentioned in Moravcsik 1978b, Moravcsik 1994a
 Source  Moravcsik 1978b: 354, Moravcsik 1994a: 44

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
Haida (isolate), where 1st and 2nd person pronouns form their plural forms by inflection, and 3rd person pronouns by suppletion (for details see Swanton 1911/1969) (Filimonova 2001).
Notes
Cf. ##401, 269.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=401"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=269"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">