Universal #401
Legacy number: 401
| Number | 400 |
| Original | If a language indicates number in the 1st and /or 2nd person pronoun by using a plural marker also used for nouns, so does it in the 3rd person. |
| Standardized | IF number in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronoun is indicated by a plural marker also used for nouns, THEN 3rd person uses the same plural marker. |
| Formula | (plural marker (1 &/V. 2 person pronoun) = plural marker (noun)) ⇒ the same plural marker (3 person pronoun) |
| Keywords | number, plural, noun, 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: 45 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Haida (isolate), where 1st and 2nd person pronouns form their plurals by inflection following the nominal type and 3rd person pronouns have suppletive plural forms (for details see Swanton 1911/1969) (Filimonova 2001).
Notes
1. In other words, it apparently does not occur that the 1st (and/or the 2nd) person pronoun has nominal-type plural, or inflectional plural in general, without the 3rd person pronoun having the same inflectional pluralizer.2. Cf. ##400, 269, which are more general statements.
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2. Cf. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=400"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=269"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, which are more general statements.