Grammar of binding in the languages of the world: Unity versus diversity

•Conditions on binding reflect universal properties of grammar.•Universal principles interact with lexical properties of pronouns and the environment.•Language variation arises through this interaction.•Reflexive predicates must be licensed by bundling semantic roles or by protection.•The binding systems of Peranakan Javanese and Jambi fit in the predicted variation space.

Cole, Hermon, and Yanti (2015) present a number of far-reaching conclusions about language universals on the basis of their study of the anaphoric systems of the Austronesian languages of Indonesia. The present contribution critically assesses these conclusions. It reports a further set of data, and shows that contra to what these authors argue, the systems they discuss can be straightforwardly accounted for by a simple set of universal principles plus properties of the vocabulary of the languages involved. I conclude this article with some remarks on acquisition.