[Lexicog] Digest Number 193 (Honorifics)

[Benjamin J Barrett]

In Japanese, a sequential ranking system does not work well. Instead,
the system can be plotted against two axes, one to show politeness and
one to show honorific styles.

For verbs, the normal or non-polite style (futsuu-go) is da/iku/suru,
contrasting with polite (teinei-go) as desu/ikimasu/shimasu. Polite also
includes -san/-sama/-dono, o/go (o-cha, go-busata) for nouns, and o- XX
-gozaimasu for adjectives (rarely heard except for a few like o-atsuu
gozaimasu for it's hot). There are also regular verbs such as taberu
(eat) versus non-polite (or perhaps impolite) verbs such as kuu (eat).

The honorific (sonkei-go) axis ranges from the humble (kenson-go)
itadaku (eat) to meshiagaru (eat). The construction o- + verb stem +
suru is a humble used when doing something for the sake of another
person (o-okuri shimasu 'I will send (it for you)').

I'm not 100% sure how pronouns are classified. Taking a stab at it, ore
(I, me) is impolite, ondore (you) extremely vulgar, and watakushi (I,
me) extremely polite. I would think the pronoun shousei (I, me,
literally small life) would be a humble whereas watakushi would be
polite. Perhaps pronouns have aspects of each axis. Nanji (you) is
reserved for deity and some other unusual usages (it's used in the
translation of the Silmarillion), and chin (I, me) is reserved only for
the emperor (he now uses watashi/watakushi; chin is now relegated to
jocular usage). On a side note, when Napoleon spoke, he "used" the first
person pronoun "yo".

In Korean, post-positions have honorific forms (ek'e I think is the
subject particle corresponding to i/ga) as well. In contrast to the dual
da/desu system in Japanese, I have read that Korean has six constrasts
from ni for infants to imnida for very polite situations.

HTH
Benjamin Barrett
Baking the World a Better Place (with the famous dog Pasco)
www.hiroki.us


-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Moe [mailto:ron_moe at sil.org]
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 2:46 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Digest Number 193 (Honorifics)


I just searched my list of semantic domains for one that dealt with
honorifics. Finding none, I added it. However I find that I know little
about how languages actually handle levels of respect. Having grown up
in
Japan, I know that it has an elaborate system. However since I was a
small
child when I learned Japanese, I never learned the system. I know that
there
are both lexical and morphological choices one must make. There are
different sets of pronouns and particles, and the verb morphology is
affected. English used to distinguish 'thou' (informal) from 'you'
(formal).
French still has such a distinction in the second person singular
pronoun.
English has some words that are used in formal settings (e.g. 'however'
and
'nevertheless' vs 'but'), but this is normally handled under 'register'
rather than 'honorifics'. However I believe that our terms of direct
address
(buddy, sir, ma'am, your honor, your majesty) would qualify as
honorifics. I
also believe our greetings (hey, hi, hello, pleased to meet you) could
qualify. There are also levels of politeness in requests (can, may,
please)
and apologies (sorry, excuse me, I beg your pardon). Can anyone give
examples of (1) pronouns, (2) particles, (3) affixes, (4) terms of
direct
address, (5) greetings (6) requests, (7) apologies? Are there other sets
of
words that function as honorifics? Is there any literature on the
subject?

Ron Moe

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth C. Hill [mailto:kennethchill at yahoo.com]

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.

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