[Lingtyp] Pronouns, politeness, political correctness

[Sebastian Nordhoff]

On 5/10/23 18:11, PONSONNET Maia wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> 
> This is very interesting indeed!
> 
> I hope someone has studied this or will.
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I agree that ownership of 2nd person alternations are not 
> contested.
> 
> I think I'd say (following Silverstein and many others since) that 
> contestation IS - along with its converse, imposition  - /the/ whole 
> point of having this sort of alternation in a language?

I meant that the fact that the choice of second person pronouns has 
implications for politeness/rudeness is universally accepted. You cannot 
feign ignorance. You can seriously offend people with a particular 
choice for 2sg, and everybody knows that (and can willfully make use of 
it in particular situations).

What is currently not universally accepted yet (as per this thread, and 
at least in Europe) is that the choice of particular **third person** 
pronoun can also have implications on politeness/rudeness. Some people 
will deny any intentions to be rude with their choice of 3rd person 
pronouns.

(Obviously, there are languages where you can be rude with first person 
pronouns as well. Sri Lanka Malay has /se/ and /go/ for 1sg, and the 
latter is considered really vulgar.)

Best
Sebastian