person
Let an agent handle person as a property of pronouns and verb forms that varies between languages, without assuming the three-way system of European languages is universal.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent handle person as a property of pronouns and verb forms that varies between languages, without assuming the three-way system of European languages is universal.
A grammatical category that marks the relation of a referent to the speech act: the speaker (first person), the addressee (second person) and others (third person), with further distinctions in some languages.
What it is for: Indicating who is speaking, who is addressed and who is spoken about, in pronouns and verb agreement.
It can be mark it on pronouns and on verbs, by agreement; annotate it in a corpus, using standard feature values; translate it, which may require adding or removing distinctions; use it to resolve reference in text.
Distinguishing features
A grammatical category, not a human being; the human sense of person is a different entry
Interacts with number (singular, dual, plural) and with clusivity
Not all languages mark it on verbs; some mark it only on pronouns
The number and kind of distinctions vary across languages
What it looks like
Not physical; visible as pronouns and inflected verb forms in speech and writing.
How it is recognised
First person pronouns such as I and we; second such as you; third such as she, they, it
Verb endings that change with person in many languages
Some languages mark further distinctions: inclusive and exclusive we, fourth or obviative person, proximal and distal third person
Related models
is a kind of - alongside number, gender, tense and case
is confused with - a homonym; this entry is grammatical
is marked on - the forms that carry person
interacts with - person and number combine in most paradigms
In practice
Families and kinds
first, second and third person
clusivity: inclusive and exclusive first person plural
fourth or obviative person, in some languages
impersonal and generic person forms
Identifiers
Universal Dependencies feature Person=1|2|3|0|4 annotation values used across treebanks
Standards and regulation
Universal Dependencies morphological features
Leipzig Glossing Rules abbreviations 1, 2, 3
Failure modes and hazards
Assuming a three-way system and losing distinctions such as clusivity in translation
Confusing grammatical person with the human sense in data
Mis-resolving reference when a language drops pronouns
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.person-communication
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Values and system Which person values a language distinguishes.
The inventory of person values is the first thing that differs between languages.
Inventory
The values distinguished.
Person inventory
The person values and their combinations with number.
- Which person values does this language distinguish? definition
- Does it distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person plural? boundary
Interaction with other categories
Number, gender and formality.
Combined categories
How person combines with other categories.
- How does person combine with number, gender and formality here? definition
- Which forms are syncretic, sharing one shape for several values? boundary
Marking Where person is expressed.
Person can be marked on pronouns, verbs or both, and dropped when context makes it clear.
Pronouns
Pronominal forms.
Pronoun paradigm
The pronoun forms by person.
- What are the pronoun forms for each person? definition
- When are pronouns omitted? boundary
Verb agreement
Person marked on verbs.
Agreement pattern
How verbs agree in person.
- Does the verb agree in person, and with which argument? definition
- Which tenses or moods neutralise the distinction? boundary
Annotation Recording person in data.
Corpus annotation needs a standard set of values so tools can compare languages.
Annotation scheme
Feature names and values.
Scheme used
The scheme and its values.
- Which annotation scheme and values are used for person? provenance
- How are values outside the scheme handled? boundary
Annotation quality
Agreement and errors.
Annotation reliability
How reliable the person labels are.
- How reliably is person annotated in this corpus? measurement
- Which constructions are most often mislabelled? measurement
Translation and reference Using person in language technology.
Most practical failures with person happen in translation and reference resolution.
Translation
Mapping between systems.
Mapping losses
Distinctions gained or lost in translation.
- Which person distinctions are lost translating between these languages? boundary
- How should a lost distinction be flagged? action
Reference resolution
Identifying who is meant.
Resolution method
How person helps resolve reference.
- How does person constrain who a form can refer to? definition
- What errors arise when pronouns are dropped? boundary
What the second pass must settle
- Should the registry record person values per language, or keep one cross-linguistic entry?
- How should impersonal and generic forms be represented?
- How should translation tools warn when a person distinction cannot be preserved?