<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
Maybe the following will work:<br>
<br>
"A personal pronoun is a free form that (i) denotes a speech role
(speaker/producer and/or hearer/comprehender) OR that is used as an
anaphoric form AND (ii) that can be used in a complement clause
coreferentially with a matrix clause argument."<br>
<br>
This is a disjunctive definition that brings together locuphoric
forms ('I', 'we', 'you') and 3rd-person anaphoric (or "endophoric")
forms, following the Western tradition (but not following any kind
of compelling logic).<br>
<br>
It seems that personal pronouns need to be delimited from three
types of somewhat doubtful forms:<br>
<br>
– person indexes (I do not include bound forms under "personal
pronoun" here, following my 2013 paper on person indexes:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://zenodo.org/record/1294059">https://zenodo.org/record/1294059</a>)<br>
– demonstratives<br>
– titles like "Your Majesty"<br>
<br>
I think that if a language has a form like "that-one" or
"your-majesty" that can be used coreferentially in a complement
clause, one will regard it as a personal pronoun:<br>
<br>
(a) "My sister(i) thinks that that-one(i) has an answer."<br>
(b) "Does your-majesty(i) think that your-majesty(i) has an answer?"<br>
<br>
In German, the polite second-person pronoun "Sie" (which has
Third-Person syntax) can be used in (b), but the demonstrative "die"
can hardly be used in (a), so it would not count as a personal
pronoun (yet). However, in Hindi-Urdu and Mongolian, as mentioned by
Ian, the demonstrative can be used in this way (I think), so it
would count as a personal pronoun.<br>
<br>
I don't think we need the general notion of "person" to define
"personal pronoun". Wikipedia's current definition is therefore
quite confusing (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_pronoun">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_pronoun</a>).<br>
<br>
Thanks for this interesting challenge, Ian! It seems to me that
quite a few of our traditional terms CAN be defined, but their
definitions are not obvious at all (and the textbooks don't usually
give the definitions).<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 06.07.21 um 06:53 schrieb JOO, Ian
[Student]:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:66a4c893-715d-47c7-b19b-8caf055ce418@Spark">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title></title>
<div name="messageBodySection">
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Dear
typologists,</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">I’m having a hard
time trying to find a definition of a “personal pronoun”.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">One definition is
that a personal pronoun refers to a literal person, a human
being. But then again, non-human pronouns like English </span><em
style="font-family:Times New Roman">it</em><span
style="font-family:Times New Roman"> are also frequently
included as a personal pronoun.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">Another definition
seems to be that “personal” refers to a grammatical person
and not a literal person. Thus, </span><em
style="font-family:Times New Roman">it</em><span
style="font-family:Times New Roman"> refers to the
(non-human) 3rd person, therefore it is a personal pronoun.</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">But then again,
demonstratives, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns also
refer to the 3rd person. (This </span><em
style="font-family:Times New Roman">is</em><span
style="font-family:Times New Roman"> a book, who </span><em
style="font-family:Times New Roman">is </em><span
style="font-family:Times New Roman">that man, anything </span><em
style="font-family:Times New Roman">is </em><span
style="font-family:Times New Roman">possible) Then are they
also personal pronouns?</span><br>
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman">What’s the clearest
definition of a personal pronoun, if any?</span></div>
</div>
<div name="messageSignatureSection"><br>
From Hong Kong,
<div dir="auto">Ian</div>
</div>
<style type="text/css">p
{margin-top:12px;
margin-bottom:12px}div.WordSection1
{}</style><img alt=""
src="https://www.polyu.edu.hk/emaildisclaimer/PolyU_Email_Signature.jpg"
moz-do-not-send="true">
<p><br>
<em><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Disclaimer:</font></em></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in"><i><font size="3" face="Times New
Roman" color="black"><span>This message (including any
attachments) contains confidential information intended
for a specific individual and purpose. If you are not the
intended recipient, you should delete this message and
notify the sender and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
(the University) immediately. Any disclosure, copying, or
distribution of this message, or the taking of any action
based on it, is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.</span></font></i></p>
<p style="margin-left: 0.5in"><i><span><font size="3" face="Times
New Roman">The University specifically denies any
responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information
obtained through University E-mail Facilities. Any views
and opinions expressed are only those of the author(s) and
do not necessarily represent those of the University and
the University accepts no liability whatsoever for any
losses or damages incurred or caused to any party as a
result of the use of such information.</font></span></i></p>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
Lingtyp mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522">https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522</a></pre>
</body>
</html>