Skip to content

Universal 400: (plural marker (1 &/V. 2 person pronoun) = plural marker (noun)) ⇒ the same plural marker (3 person pronoun)

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 400: (plural marker (1 &/V. 2 person pronoun) = plural marker (noun)) ⇒ the same plural marker (3 person pronoun)

Original
If a language indicates number in the 1st and /or 2nd person pronoun by using a plural marker also used for nouns, so does it in the 3rd person.
Standardized
IF number in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronoun is indicated by a plural marker also used for nouns, THEN 3rd person uses the same plural marker.
Keywords
number, plural, noun, personal pronoun, person, 1, 2, 3
Domain
inflection
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
almost absolute
Basis
languages mentioned in Moravcsik 1978b, Moravcsik 1994a
Source
Moravcsik 1978b: 354, Moravcsik 1994a: 45
Counterexamples
Haida (isolate), where 1st and 2nd person pronouns form their plurals by inflection following the nominal type and 3rd person pronouns have suppletive plural forms (for details see Swanton 1911/1969) (Filimonova 2001).

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. In other words, it apparently does not occur that the 1st (and/or the 2nd) person pronoun has nominal-type plural, or inflectional plural in general, without the 3rd person pronoun having the same inflectional pluralizer.2. Cf. ##400, 269, which are more general statements.

    1. May 2020

Comments are closed.