Cross-Linguistic Typology of Pronouns (WALS Chapters 39--40, 44--48) #

@cite{dryer-haspelmath-2013} @cite{dryer-haspelmath-2013}

Typological data on pronoun systems across languages, drawn from seven chapters of the World Atlas of Language Structures. These chapters cover the major dimensions along which pronoun systems vary cross-linguistically: clusivity, gender, politeness, indefiniteness strategy, the intensifier-- reflexive connection, and person marking on adpositions.

Ch 39: Inclusive/Exclusive in Independent Pronouns (200 languages) #

Whether a language distinguishes inclusive ('we including you') from exclusive ('we excluding you') first-person plural pronouns. The majority of languages (120/200 = 60%) make no such distinction. Languages with the distinction (63/200 = 31.5%) are concentrated in Oceanic, Australian, and some South American families.

Ch 40: Inclusive/Exclusive in Verbal Inflection (200 languages) #

The same inclusive/exclusive dimension, but in verbal agreement morphology rather than independent pronouns. Many languages that distinguish clusivity in pronouns lack it in verbal inflection: 70/200 languages have no person marking on verbs at all.

Ch 44: Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns (378 languages) #

Where in the person paradigm gender is marked. The majority of languages (254/378 = 67.2%) have no gender distinctions in pronouns at all. When gender is marked, it most commonly appears in the 3rd person singular (61/378 = 16.1%), consistent with the functional explanation that gender is most useful for disambiguating reference where multiple potential antecedents exist.

Ch 45: Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns (207 languages) #

Whether and how pronouns encode social relationships. Most languages lack politeness distinctions in pronouns (136/207 = 65.7%). Binary T/V systems (49/207 = 23.7%) are the most common positive value. Some languages avoid pronouns entirely for politeness (7/207 = 3.4%), using titles or kin terms instead.

Ch 46: Indefinite Pronouns (326 languages) #

The morphological source of indefinite pronouns ('someone', 'something'). Interrogative-based indefinites (194/326 = 59.5%) are the most common strategy worldwide, reflecting the well-known interrogative--indefinite connection. Generic-noun-based indefinites (85/326 = 26.1%) use words like 'person' or 'thing' as bases.

Ch 47: Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns (168 languages) #

Whether intensifiers ('X herself did it') and reflexive pronouns ('X saw herself') use the same or different forms. Languages split nearly evenly: 94/168 (56%) use identical forms, 74/168 (44%) differentiate them.

Ch 48: Person Marking on Adpositions (378 languages) #

Whether adpositions (prepositions/postpositions) can bear person marking. The majority of languages (209/378 = 55.3%) have adpositions but no person marking on them. A substantial minority (83/378 = 22.0%) mark pronouns on adpositions (e.g. Hebrew 'in-me', 'in-you'). 63 languages (16.7%) lack adpositions entirely.