The Position of Third Person Pronouns

Abstract This chapter establishes a typological distinction between two-person and three-person languages. In the former case, third person pronouns are identical or derivationally related to demonstratives, whereas in the latter, the two are quite distinct from one another. Languages that show gender distinction among their third person pronouns tend to be two-person languages, whereas the ones that manifest person-oriented (rather than distance-oriented) demonstrative systems tend to be three-person languages.