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Universal 1442:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1442:

Original
In all languages, if some form denotes the metaperson ‘speaker’, it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) ‘hearer’;
(b) ‘non-participant’ ,
(c) ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’.
Standardized
IF a form denotes the metaperson ‘speaker’, THEN it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) ‘hearer’;
(b) ‘non-participant’ ,
(c) ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’.
Keywords
personal pronoun, person, speaker, hearer, non-participant
Domain
inflection, syntax, lexicon
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
400 world-wide distributed languages, see Sokolovskaja 1980: 98-99; Sokolovskaja surveyed systems of independent personal pronouns only.
Source
Sokolovskaja 1980: 90, U 4
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Sokolovskaja recognizes the following metapersons:’speaker’, ‘hearer’, ‘non-participant’, ‘speaker + hearer(s)’, ‘speaker + non-participant(s)’, ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, and ‘speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s). 2. Does this mean that 1st person is never syncretic with 2nd or 3rd?

    1. May 2020

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