[Lexicog] The Irony of Thou

[Hayim Sheynin]

Benjamin,
   
  The case of Algerian French is easy to understand, because in Arabic there is no dichotonomy tu/Vous. Instead there are dichotonomy 2 p.m./ 2 p.f. (anta/anti). And if they want to use a polite form, they use an address Monseur, Chef, etc. (In Arabic Sa'idi, Sa'idati-my master, my lady, etc.)
   
  However I do not know the reason of disappearance of the polite form in Nicaraguan Spanish and if so, probably in additional Spanish dialects of Latin America. Maybe somebody else on the list can enlighten me.
   
  Hayim Y. Sheynin

Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
          Anecdotally, I understand that French in Algiers has already lost the 
formal form as has Spanish in Nicaragua. BB

Fritz Goerling wrote:
>
> I doubt that the distinction between pronouns of "power" and "solidarity"
> (to use Brown and Gilman's terms of their famous 1960 article "The 
> Pronouns
> of Power and Solidarity") will disappear any time soon in at least a 
> couple
> of European languages I know (German and French). If the formal form were
> lost, I would regret it. I wonder to what kind of linguistic 
> strategies one
> would resort, if a variety of nuances in human relations could not be
> expressed by different pronouns any more.
>



         

       
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