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Universal 1463:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1463:

Original
In an overwhelming majority of languages, if some form denotes the metaperson ‘speaker + hearer(s)’ and/or ‘speaker + non-participant(s)’, it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) ‘speaker’;
(b) ‘hearer’ in singular;
(c) ‘hearer’ in non-singular;
(d) ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’.
Standardized
IF a form denotes the metaperson ‘speaker + hearer(s)’ and/or ‘speaker + non-participant(s)’, THEN it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons:
(a) ‘speaker’;
(b) ‘hearer’ in singular;
(c) ‘hearer’ in non-singular;
(d) ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’.
Keywords
personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, 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.
Source
Sokolovskaja 1980: 93, U 25
Counterexamples
To (a): Kawi [=Old Javanese], Javanese (Sundic, W. Malayo-Polynesian), Nimboran (Trans-New Guinea);To (b): Haitian (Creole, French-based), Marathi (Indic, Indo-European);To (c) and (d): Haitian (Creole, French-based), Navajo (Athabaskan), Marathi (Indic, Indo-European) (Sokolovskaja 1980)

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. Cf. #1466.

    1. May 2020

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