Every one of the seven metapersons, i.e. ‘speaker’, ‘hearer’, ‘non-participant’, ‘speaker + hearer(s)’, ‘speaker + non-participant(s)’, ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, ‘speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, is expressed in the pronominal system of every language.
Standardized
Every one of the seven metapersons, i.e. ‘speaker’, ‘hearer’, ‘non-participant’, ‘speaker + hearer(s)’, ‘speaker + non-participant(s)’, ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, ‘speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, is expressed in the pronominal system of every language.
Keywords
pronoun, personal pronoun, person
Domain
inflection, syntax, lexicon
Type
unconditional
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
400 world-wide distributed languages, see Sokolovskaja 1980: 98-99; Sokolovskaja surveyed systems of independent personal pronouns only.
1. If a language lacks a special form to denote one of the seven metapersons, this metaperson will be expressed together with another metaperson in one pronominal form.2. Cf. similar but less precise claims by Hockett (#1324): Among the deictic elements of every human language there is one that denotes the speaker and one that denotes the addressee; and by Greenberg (#517): All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers.
1. If a language lacks a special form to denote one of the seven metapersons, this metaperson will be expressed together with another metaperson in one pronominal form.2. Cf. similar but less precise claims by Hockett (#1324): Among the deictic elements of every human language there is one that denotes the speaker and one that denotes the addressee; and by Greenberg (#517): All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers.