Universal #646

Legacy number: 646

 Number  643
 Original  Variation of person in pronominal reference indicates greater difference in degree of respect or social distance than does variation of number.
 Standardized  Variation of person in pronominal reference indicates greater difference in degree of respect or social distance than does variation of number.
 Keywords  personal pronoun, person, number, respect, social distance
 Domain  inflection, semantics
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  more than one hundred languages in Head 1978
 Source  Head 1978: 191, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=8"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">

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Discussion
Notes
Thus, in languages in which variation of number and of person are both employed to indicate social meaning in address, the hierarchy in order of increasing social distance is: 2Sg < 2Pl < 3Sg < 3Pl. (Head 1978)
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Thus, in languages in which variation of number and of person are both employed to indicate social meaning in address, the hierarchy in order of increasing social distance is:
2Sg < 2Pl < 3Sg < 3Pl. (<a class="reference" href="../ref/source_ref.php#Head_1978">Head 1978)