In an overwhelming majority of languages, if some form denotes the metaperson ‘non-participant’ in the non-singular, then it cannot be used to denote the metaperson ‘non-participant’ in the singular.
Standardized
IF a form denotes the metaperson ‘non-participant’ in the non-singular, THEN it cannot be used to denote the metaperson ‘non-participant’ in the singular.
Keywords
personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular
Domain
inflection, syntax, lexicon
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
400 world-wide distributed languages, see Sokolovskaja 1980: 98-99; Sokolovskaja surveyed systems of independent personal pronouns only.
Khmer (Mon-Khmer, Austroasiatic), Kawi (=Old Javanese), Javanese (both Sundic, W. Malayo-Polynesian), Nimboran (Trans-New Guinea), Thai (Daic, Austroasiatic), Navajo (Athabaskan), Marathi (Indic, Indo-European), Flamingo Bay dialect of Asmat (Trans-New Guinea) (Sokolovskaja 1980); Aymara, Jaqaru (Andean), where personal pronominal forms are not specified for number, i.e. the form X can be used referring to a ‘non-participant’ in singular and non-singular. E.g. Aymara YUPA means ‘she, he, they’ (for details see Hardman-de-Bautista 1974: 32-3, Hardman 1966)(EF);all the languages making no number distinction in reference to non-participant would violate the statement, e.g. Kuman (Chimbu, Trans-New Guinea), Jéi (Yei, Trans-New Guinea) (EF);Sokolovskaja, however, does not mention German as a potential violation, cf. the form ‘sie’ which refers to ‘non-participant’ in plural and female ‘non-participant’ in singular. [accidental homonymy, hence disregarded? ]
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. Cf. #1459.