Questions tagged [formality]
For question about formality in linguistics, e.g., in personal pronouns (T-V-distinction) or verbs.
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Why did older languages lose the informal "you" if modern languages are losing the formal "you"?
English and (I believe) Brazilian Portuguese have to varying degrees lost T-V distinction via adoption of the formal second-person pronoun for both formal and informal situations. English completely ...
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In English, can the use of a word change from formal to informal, or vice versa, while the meaning of the word remains the same?
Note: I have zero background in linguistics, so I do not know if my question is valid, and I am probably not going to use proper terminology. Thank you for reading. Here goes.
Can the use of a word ...
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Formalizing Natural Languages
I've been interested in the subject of metalanguages [in mathematical logic] and how (if) we can formalize them. Most metalanguages I've encountered use some variation of a natural language (such as ...
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When and how did the Japanese honorific system evolve?
I know that languages, in general, can denote honorifics, especially with second person pronouns (T/V distinction, etc), and I imagine that the Japanese system of honorifics is probably an extension ...
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Did/Do most languages use a similar pronoun to the plural for formal singular?
I don't think the title is super clear, but I couldn't a better way to word it, let me give a few examples
From what I understand, the "original" pronouns were
English:
Singular Informal: Thou
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Plural form as respect form - based on what?
Many languages use the plural as respected mood for a singular (even English use "you" which is basically a plural form of thu).
Now my question is: based on what those who started to speak in ...
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pronouns with uppercase and lowercase variants
In Russian, there are two forms of the formal 2nd person singular pronoun: lowercase вы (vy) and uppercase Вы (Vy). If I understand correctly, the latter is used in situations where the speaker and ...
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Why did English stop using thou?
In Shakespearean English, thou/thee/thy/thine were used for second person singular, and you/your/yours were used for second person plural. In modern English, you is used for both singular and plural. ...
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