xiphias: (Default)
xiphias ([personal profile] xiphias) wrote2008-01-24 10:44 pm
Entry tags:

Comparative linguistics question: how common are formal/informal second person pronouns?

So, Spanish distinguishes between "tu" and "usted". French has "tu" and "vous". German has "du" and "sie", and Japanese has something similar, I think.

English USED to use "thou" and "you" the way French uses "tu" and "vous", but eventually dropped "thou".

So, which is more common: for a language to HAVE this second-person-pronoun formality distinction, or to LACK it? What are some other examples in other languages?

I figure, I've got a bunch of linguistic geeks on my friends list who might be interested in this question.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
No Subject Icon Selected
More info about formatting