Languages with more than 2 forms of address?
Hi,
I'm looking for an overview of languages by the number of their forms of address
For example
English: has only one "you"
French: formal "vous" vs. informal "tu"
German: formal "Sie" vs. informal "du"
...
Are there languages with more than 2 forms of address?
Italian: Lei & Tu
Spanish: Usted & Tu
Spanish: tú/vosotros/vos , usted/ustedes, vuestra merced
I think that in the case of Spanish it is more complicated, for example. The Argentinians say vos as an informal way to adress people, but what is the formal way, usted ?
"Vusted" despite rare as hell also exist in Spanish.
Вы (Formal), Ты (Informal), and сука (loving, affectionate - eg, to wife) are the commonest Russian forms of adress.
Continental Portuguese has 3 fors of address:
tu (informal) [the plural is: vocês (both informal and semiformal)]
você (semiformal) [the plural is: vocês (both informal and semiformal)]
o senhor (formal) [the plural is: os senhores]
in Brazil, tu is not much used, in some regions (like Rio), tu is considered slangy, and você is neutral, in some regions (like South of Brazil), tu is considered informal, and você formal; in most of Brazil where tu is archaic, tu sounds too distant, formal, archaic, biblic (just like Thou, Thee, Thy in English) and it's not used, você is informal, and o senhor is formal...as a whole, você in Brazil functions like you in English, it can be both informal and formal...
also, Brazilian Portuguese has 2 forms for ''we''
a gente ''informal to neutral'' (like French ON: on y va = a gente vai)
nós ''neutral to formal'' (like French NOUS)
Vós, tu i vostè.
Quan vindreu, vós?
Quan vindràs, tu?
Quan vindrà, vostè?
"Vostè" te tendència a recular.
in Colombia and many parts of Central America, there is a
vos - tu - Usted triangle
vos is used between male friends, and between brothers
tu is used between lovers
Usted is used between colleges
in Argentina:
vos - intimate, informal
Usted - formal
tu - archaic, extremely formal
in Italian, there is
1. tu, voi, Lei (in singular)
2. voi, voi, Loro (in plural)
voi di cortesia is still used in the South of Italy (Napoli) and
in dialectal Italian of the Northeast (Venice, Trieste).
As for ''we''
there is a form close to French ON and (Brazilian) Portuguese A GENTE:
NOI SI + 3rd person singular
NOI SI VA = ON Y VA = A GENTE VAI
it is considered regional usage (Tuscanism) but since Tuscany is the home of the Italian language, it is tolerated. It can be found in Italian literature too.
In Indonesian it's much more complicated.
For "you", there are at least:
kamu
loe
kau
engkau
dikau
anda
situ
èntè
awak
ngana
and many more
Even for "I" we have different words, depending on whom you're talking to.
Some examples:
aku
guä
saya
kita
ambo
bèta
Japanese ways of saying you:
お宅 - otaku
貴方 - anata
あんた - anta (slurred form of "anata"; less polite)
君 - kimi
お前 - omae
手前 - temae
てめえ - temee (slurred form of "temase"; rude)
貴様 - kisama
其方 - sonata
己 - onore
御主 - onushi (archaic)
汝 - nanji (archaic)
There are some more in dialects or perhaps more slurred and otherwise altered forms of those, but I think this is enough.
Japanese also has an interesting system of verb conjugation. The main verb of a sentence is always conjugated for politeness toward the listener, no matter whether or not the verb itself has anything to do with the listener.
Korean has this feature as well, and I believe it's more complicated there.
- Kef
Kef,
In Japanese, "You" is often implied, not stated. Actually there are even more ways that would be translated as "you" in English, but I doubt posters would be interested. Japanese is a lifetime investment, almost.
Often Japanese, use the name instead of pronoun, even when it's obvious who's addressed.
Do you like milk?
Does John/Mary like milk?