[Lexicog] Digest Number 193 (Honorifics)

[Kenneth C. Hill]

One needs a pretty specific idea of what an egalitarian vs. a stratified
society is to handle this query right. My experience with honorific
systems comes from Japanese and Korean on one side, societies
traditionally recognized as "stratified" and Nahuatl on the other. Nahuatl
(= Aztec) must have been associated with what anyone would regard as a
stratified society back before the Spanish conquest in 1521, but the
system of honorifics in present-day usage is quite elaborate but with a
society that is found at the bottom or margin of the socioeconomic system
in modern Mexico. See Jane H. Hill and Kenneth C. Hill, Honorific usage in
modern Nahuatl: the expression of social distance and respect in the
Nahuatl of the Malinche Volcano area, Language 54:123-155 (1978).

In brief (as I recall without going back to check the details): We found
four levels of honorifics. Level 1 is how one addresses intimates, small
children, and pets. Level 2 is for strangers and persons treated formally.
Level 3 is for respected persons, the dead, and God. Level 4 is for
obsequious respect, as for the archbishop in an interview with a priest,
and for ritual kin.

--Ken

--- Jimrem at aol.com wrote:

> My colleague Bruce Pearson and I, working on the Lenape (Delaware Indian
> language), have noted that this language, spoken in an egalitarian
> society, lacks
> many honorific terms.  Pearson, who has previously studied Japanese,
> spoken in
> a society that traditionally has been highly stratified, has noted
> numerous
> honorifics.
>
> As an example, the common reply In Lenape to "Wanìshi! (Thank you!)" is
> "Yuh!" which means something like "O.K.!"  There is no exact term for
> "You're
> welcome!"
>
> We have also had inquiries about how to say "Welcome!" in the sense of
> welcoming someone to your home.  The usual word used is "Tëmike! (Come
> in!)."  When
> speakers have been pressed to say something more like "Welcome!" the
> usually
> have to create a sentence like "Nulelintàm eli paan! (I am glad that you
>
> came!)."
>
> We wonder if other members of this list have equated the lack of
> honorific
> terms in a language they speak or work with to that language being used
> in a
> more egalitarian society?
>
> Jim Rementer
>
> Lenape Language Project
> The Delaware Tribe
> 220 NW Virginia Avenue
> Bartlesville OK 74003
> 918-336-5272, ext. 503 (work)
>



		
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now.
http://messenger.yahoo.com


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
$9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/HKE4lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->


Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/