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In sociolinguistics, a T-V distinction describes the situation wherein a language has second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee.
The expressions T-form and V-form were introduced by Brown and Gilman (1960), based on the initial letters of these pronouns in Latin, tu and vos. In Latin, tu was originally the singular, and vos the plural, with no distinction for honorific or familiar. According to Brown and Gilman, usage of the plural to the Roman emperor began in the fourth century AD. They mention the possibility that this was because there were two emperors at that time (in Constantinople and Rome), but also mention that "plurality is a very old and ubiquitous metaphor for power" (example: the usage of the "royal we" in English, in which it is grammatically acceptable for a monarch to use the pronoun "we" when referring to themselves because they supposedly represent the opinion of every person they rule, like Queen Victoria's famed saying "We are not amused.") This usage was extended to other powerful figures, such as Pope Gregory I (590-604). But Brown and Gilman note that it was only between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries that the norms for the use of T- and V-forms crystallized.
Brown and Gilman argued that the choice of form is governed by either relationships of 'power' and/or 'solidarity', depending on the culture of the speakers, showing that 'power' had been the dominant predictor of form in Europe until the twentieth century. Thus it was quite normal for a powerful person to use a T-form but expect a V-form in return. However in the twentieth century the dynamic shifted in favour of solidarity, so that people would use T-forms with those they knew, and V-forms in service encounters, with reciprocal usage being the norm in both cases.
Modern English has no T-V distinction. It can often be confusing for an English speaker learning a language with a T-V distinction to assimilate the rules surrounding when to call someone with the formal or the informal pronoun. Students are often advised to err on the side of caution by using the formal pronouns. However, this risks sounding snobbish or ridiculous. Though English has no syntactic T-V distinction, there are semantic analogies, such as whether to address someone by first name or last name (or using sir and ma'am). However the boundaries between formal and informal language differ from language to language, and most languages use formal speech more frequently, and/or in different circumstances than English. In some circumstances it is not unusual to call other people by first name and the respectful form, or last name and familiar form. For example, German shop employees often use these constructs with each other if a customer is present.
The use of these forms calls for compensating translation of dialogue into English. For example, a character in a French film or novel saying "Tutoie-moi!" ("Use [the informal pronoun] tu when addressing me!") might be translated "Don't be so formal!" Conversely, this can lead to constructions denoting an intermediate level of formality in T-V-distinct languages that sound awkward to English-speakers. For example, the catchphrase of "Be careful, Michael" from Knight Rider was usually dubbed "Seien Sie vorsichtig, Michael" in German, implying both formality (use of Sie) and familiarity (use of first name).
In many languages, the formal singular pronoun derives from a plural form. Many Romance languages have familiar forms derived from the Latin singular tu and formal forms derived from Latin plural vos, sometimes via a circuitous route. A related concept is pluralis majestatis, the use of a first-person plural pronoun as a formal replacement for a first-person singular pronoun. Sometimes, singular V-form derives from a third person pronoun. Some languages have separate T and V forms for both singular and plural; others have the same form; others have a T-V distinction only in the singular.
Different languages distinguish pronoun uses in different ways. Even within languages, there are differences between groups (older people and people of higher status tending to both use and expect more formal language) and between various aspects of one language. For example, in Dutch, u is slowly falling into disuse in the plural, and thus one could sometimes address a group as jullie when one would address each member individually as u. In Latin American Spanish, the opposite change has occurred – having lost vosotros, Latin Americans address all groups as ustedes, even if the group is composed of friends whom they would call tú. In Standard Peninsular Spanish, however, vosotros is still regularly employed in familiar conversation. In some cases, V-forms are likely to be capitalized when written.
Here are some examples of second-person pronouns in languages with T-V distinctions:
Modern Standard Arabic does not have a T-V distinction, using أنت (anta, male) and أنتِ (anti, female) for both formal and informal situations in the singular, antuma or antunnaa in the dual, and antum or antunna in the plural. However, many spoken varieties of Arabic do make the distinction. Notably, Egyptian Arabic uses حضرتك (ḥaḍretak/ḥaḍretik, meaning "your grace") and variants as the formal pronoun, with anta as the informal pronoun. In general, ḥaḍretak is reserved for elder relatives, authorities, bosses, and senior business partners.
Catalan vós follows the same concordance rules as the French vous (verbs in second person plural, adjectives in singular), and vostè follows the same concordance rules as the Spanish usted (verbs in 3rd person). Vostè originated from vostra mercè as a calque from Spanish, and replaced the original Catalan form vós. Now vós is used as a respectful form for elders and respected friends, and vostè for foreigners and people whom one doesn't know well. Vostè is more distant than vós.
Historically, Mandarin has upheld its T-V distinction rigorously in speech as well as in writing. This is particularly evident in Beijing, whose dialect formed the basis for Standard Mandarin. However, in many of the southern languages (for example Wu) there is no T-V distinction made at all. As a result of this, many southern Chinese, who learn Mandarin primarily as a second language in school, find it difficult to make the distinction and often do not at all when speaking. This simple linguistic faux pas has earned many southern migrants in Beijing and other northern cities a reputation for being rude and uncouth. Written Chinese, which generally strives for a more formal or even semi-archaic tone, consistantly makes the T-V distinction, sometimes even going so far as to employ archaic forms no longer used in speech (such as 閣下, géxià, literally, from below the pagoda, used in extremely formal situations in Imperial China).
Unlike in many European languages, the T-V distinction in Mandarin is predicated much more on age than social position per se. Unless there is a very large gap in social standing -- for example, you are addressing your boss, or a service person is addressing you -- people of the same age generally refer to each other as 你 (nǐ), even if they are strangers. Older people, including one's parents, are properly addressed as 您 (nín). As a result of this, it is relatively rare to have a situation where each of two people addresses the other as 您. Because 您 is used even with one's close family members, it does not carry an implication of distance or a lack of intimacy, as the vous of modern French does.
Although the plural forms of personal pronouns in Mandarin are typically formed by adding the suffix -們 (们) to their singular counterparts, the construction 您們 is quite rare in Standard Mandarin, indirect constructions such as 大家 (dàjiā, everyone) being preferred when addressing a crowd. The use of 您們 remains extant in Beijing dialect, however, which retains a number of distinctions lost by Standard Mandarin. Examples of its use include when directly addressing a small number of older people with whom one is relatively familiar, making 大家 awkward.
Use of ti is limited to friends and family, and used among children. In any formal use vi is used only; ti can be used among peers in a workplace, but rarely in official documents. Vi is almost always capitalized, as a sign of respect.
Traditionally, use of the informal form was limited for relatives and very close friends, for children or to explicitly express social distance. During the second half of the 20th century, use of the informal form grew significantly among coworkers, youth and members of organisations and groups. The formal form is always used in official documents and when dealing with a stranger (especially an older one) as a sign of respect. Capitalizing the formal "Vy" is slowly becoming obsolete. A variant of the formal form modeled after German "Sie" (Oni/oni, Jejich/jejich, verb onikat) was frequently used during 19th century but disappeared.
In Denmark, the use of the formal forms of address has diminished significantly over the last twenty years. De is still used in the written language, in official letters and the like, but the spoken form will be du. For example, a letter from the Inspector of Taxes inviting you a meeting to go through last year's tax return will use De, but during the meeting itself, everyone will say du. The only people you are expected to say De to are the royal family. Waiters might very occasionally use De, but this is unexpectedly formal.
In general, say du to one person, and I to more than one. Write du if you know the name of the person to whom you are writing, and De if you do not.
In the Netherlands (note: this is different in Belgium), the use of formal forms is distinctly less common in modern times. One would use u when addressing a supervisor at work or someone else who is higher up the hierarchy in similar situations. However, Dutch society traditionally upholds strong values of equality, making the use of u come across as somewhat distant and uncomfortable. When addressing strangers, for example, it is common to use jij/je, which is regarded as welcoming or a sign of friendliness. In Belgium however, this is often considered inappropriate. One could say there exists an order of "formality" in the pronouns:
The pronoun "je" (but not its emphasized form "jij") can also be used impersonally, corresponding to the English generic you. The more correct form, used in official/technical documents, speeches etc. is 'men'. This is also used to avoid confusion nowadays. For example: 'Je mag hier zeilen.' could mean either 'You may sail here.' or 'One may sail here.'. To avoid confusion, when meaning the latter but absolutely not the former one uses 'men', and vice versa one uses the more explicit 'jij'.
Anglo-Saxon (a.k.a. Old English) had no distinction between formal and informal "you". In Middle English, in the 13th century, the term "ye" was used as a formal version of "thou" (to superiors or non-intimates) — however, this use was often contextually-dependent (i.e. changing dynamically according to shifting nuances in the relationship between two people), rather than static. By the 17th century, "thou" increasingly acquired connotations of contemptuous address, or of addressing one's social inferiors (so the prosecutor in Sir Walter Raleigh's 1603 trial declaimed "I thou thee, thou traitor!"). Therefore the frequency of use of "thou" started to decline, and it was effectively extinct in the everyday speech of many dialects by the early 18th century. Its use is now archaic except in certain regional dialects, usually as "tha", and Modern English today makes no T-V distinction
The use of the term "thou," however, survives in some liturgical language when addressing God, most notably in the Lord's Prayer (Our Father, Paternoster), where it is used to imply closeness and friendship with God. It is also sometimes found in liturgical dialogue, where it has been retained to suggest community and familiarity (for example, "R. The Lord be with you (pl.) R. And with thy spirit."). Although this may seem odd, the same phenomenon can be found in modern vernacular translations of the Western liturgy into languages which normally retain the T-V distinction.
Originally "ye" and "thou" were nominative pronouns, while "you" and "thee" were accusative forms, but by the 15th century, "you" had begun being used as a subject pronoun, and only "thee" survived into Quaker "Plain Speech".
The constructed language Esperanto is not a T-V-distinguishing language. Vi is the generic second person for both singular and plural, just like you in English. An informal second person singular pronoun, ci, does exist, but only in theory. It is almost never used in practice.
Some have imagined ci as an archaic term that was used before and then fell out of common usage, however this is not true. It has only appeared sometimes in experimental language. In standard Esperanto, vi has always been used since the beginning. For example, ci appears in neither the Fundamenta Gramatiko nor in the Unua Libro.
Source: http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/pronomoj/dua.html
Estonian is a language with T-V distinction, second person plural (teie) is used instead of second person singular (sina) as a means of expressing politeness or formal speech. Sina is the familiar form of address used with family, friends, and minors. The distinction is still much more widely used and more rigid than in closely related Finnish language.
Similar to the French language vouvoyer, the verb teietama is used, and teie is used when addressing a (new) customer or a patient, or when talking to a person in his/her function. In hierarchical organizations, like large businesses or armies, sina is used between members of a same rank/level while teie is used between members of different ranks. Sina (the verb sinatama is also used) is used with relatives, friends, when addressing children and with close colleagues. Borderline situations, such as distant relatives, young adults, customers in a rental shops or new colleagues, sometimes still present difficulties.
Today, the use of the informal singular form of address is widespread in all social circles, even among strangers and in business situations. A counter-trend has been reported in recent years, whereby some people are choosing to use the formal plural more often, but in practice it is very unusual to use this form unless addressing people considerably one's senior or in situations where strict adherence to form is expected, such as in the military. As the use of formal plural conveys formal recognition of addressee's status and of polite distance, the formal plural may also be used jeeringly or to protest addressee's snobbery. A native speaker may also switch to formal plural when speaking in anger, as an attempt to remain civil.
The number is expressed in pronouns (sinä or sä for singular, or te for plural), verb inflections, and possessive suffixes. For example, imperatives are expressed in the plural, e.g. menkää "go(pl.)!". Likewise, the -nne "your" suffix is used instead of the singular -s(i) suffix. There is number agreement in Finnish, thus you say sinä olet "you(sg.) are", but te olette "you(pl.) are". However, this does not extend to words describing the addressee, which are in the singular. For example, oletteko te lääkäri? "are(pl.) you(pl.) doctor(sg.)?" A common error, nowadays often made even by native speakers unused to the formal plural, is using the plural form of the main verb in the perfect and pluperfect tenses. The main verb should be in the singular when addressing one person in the formal plural: Oletteko kuullut? instead of *Oletteko kuulleet? "Have you heard?"
Sometimes the third person is used as a polite form of address, after the Swedish model: Mitä rouvalle saisi olla? "What would madam like to have?" The passive voice may be used to circumvent the choice of the correct form of address; the passive voice is also the equivalent of the English patronizing we as in Kuinkas tänään voidaan? "How are we feeling today?"
In most French-speaking regions (Canada is an exception; see below), a rigid tu-vous distinction is upheld. Vous is expected when encountering any completely unknown adult under normal circumstances; "abnormal" circumstances include emotional situations like surprising a thief, or addressing informally other road-users while driving (including swearing at them). New acquaintances who are conscious of having something socially significant in common (e.g. student status, or the same "rank" in some hierarchy) may use tu more or less immediately as a sign of solidarity. In some cases there may be an explicitly defined practice in a particular company, political party, etc. In general, however, the switch from vous to tu is "negotiated" on a case-by-case basis; it can happen nearly unconsciously, or it can become extremely complicated. Rigidly sticking to vous can become equally awkward in a long-standing relationship. Children (including teenagers) generally use tu to speak with another child, whether known or not.
Two people who use tu in their private interactions may consciously switch back to vous in public, for example in a formal or professional environment, or in an artificially constructed situation (e.g. co-hosts of a television show), or simply to conceal the nature of their relationship from others. In some families, the traditional habit is followed: vous is used to address older family members; more rarely, children are taught to use vous to address their parents, and vous is sometimes even used between spouses.
The T-V distinction exists only in the singular in French. Vous is the second person plural pronoun in all situations.
Terminology:
Sources:
Similarly to Danish, Canadian dialects of French, including Quebec French and Acadian French, permit and expect a far broader usage of the familiar tu than in Standard French. There are still circumstances where it is appropriate and expected to say vous: in a formal interview (notably for a job), when addressing a person of very high rank (a judge, or a prime minister), when speaking to senior citizens, or when addressing customers. For a number of Francophones in Canada, vous sounds stilted or snobbish, and archaic. By no means is tu restricted to intimates or social inferiors. There is however an important minority of people, often those who call for a use of standard French in Quebec, who prefer to be addressed as vous. At Radio-Canada (the public broadcaster, often considered as establishing the normative objectives of standard French in Canada), the use of vous is widespread even between colleagues.
Finally, in familiar language, it is usual to use a "generic tu" (cf. English generic you) instead of "on", which is used solely as a first-person plural.
In French speaking Belgium, Standard French is the main usage, but things can be more complicated under the cultural influence of Dutch and Walloon languages. Flemish people, which are native Dutch speakers, will easily say tu as it is done in Dutch. But in Walloon, vous (wa: vos) is the general usage, considered as informal and friendly and tu (wa: ti)considered as vulgar, and sometimes used for formal aggressive expression. Under the influence of Standard French through the media, the Walloon specificity disapears except in older generations which used to speak this language, but the gap between native Dutch and French speakers remains.
A tu in formal circumstances will be accepted when said by a native Dutch speaker (as identified by his accent), but may be considered as informal and impolite when said by a native French speaker.
In German, the respectful form is the same as the third person plural (sie), only capitalized (Sie). This rule also extends to the grammatical form of the verbs used with the address. In requests and demands, it is considered good manners to combine Sie not only with bitte ("please") but also with the subjunctive mood (Könnten Sie bitte das Fenster schließen? instead of Schließen Sie bitte das Fenster!).
The corresponding informal German address is du. The verbs duzen and siezen mean respectively "to call du" and "to call Sie".
As a simple guideline, addressing use of Sie corresponds with English use of Mr. or Ms., while du is used as soon as one progresses to first-name terms. In Internet chats and forums (including Wikipedia), however, Germans rarely use "Sie", although there are exceptions. Some people even go so far as to consider Sie an insulting form of address on the internet.
Generally, it can be said, that everyone up to the age of 16 can without problems be addressed as du. In most circumstances, adults should at first always be called Sie, however there are exceptions: parents with small children, talking to the parents of their child's friends normally switch very quickly to du. Children and teenagers are supposed to address all unknown adults as Sie. In most sportclubs however, it may be considered overly formal if children say Sie to their adult trainers.
In most parts of Germany there is no clear custom on how to address a group the individual members of which the speaker would address in part as du, in part as Sie. As both plural pronouns, the informal ihr and the formal Sie, can offend improperly addressed members of the group, circumlocutions that avoid the use of pronouns are often employed in such cases.
In Germany, an old but by no means extinct custom (called Bruderschaft trinken, "drinking brotherhood") involves two (male) friends formally splitting a bottle of wine or drinking a glass of beer together to celebrate their deciding (mostly proposed by the elder or socially higher-standing of the two) to call one another du rather than Sie. Note this custom is also adapted among the Swiss-French of the Jura.
It is also a custom to propose the use of du rather than Sie by the opening sentence "Ich heiße..." followed by one's own first name. One accepts the proposal by replying with the same sentence.
Ihr, capitalized, was formerly used in addressing social superiors, unless more informal relations had been established. This form remains until today in some rural dialects as a respectful way of addressing elders.
Er (male) or Sie (female), capitalized, was similarly used in the second person to address a social inferior, as a master addressing a servant, but is now obsolete. Ihr is also used in historical fiction (such as novels, plays, movies) when addressing royalty and similar persons.
Both Ihr and Er/Sie go by a similar grammar rule pertaining to the verb used with these addresses as modern Sie. The dated capitalized address Ihr demands the same verb form as the modern second person plural pronoun ihr, and dated Er/Sie demands the same verb form as the modern third person singular er and sie.
In Greek, sy () was originally the singular, and hymeis () the plural, with no distinction for honorific or familiar. Paul addressed King Agrippa II as sy (Acts 26:2). Later, hymeis and hēmeis ("we") became too close in pronunciation, and a new plural eseis () was invented. The e () of esy () is a euphonic prefix. In modern Greek εσείς (esis, second person plural) with second person plural verb conjugation is used as the formal counterpart of εσύ (esi, second person singular) when talking to strangers and elders. Although in everyday life it is somehow common to speak to strangers of your age or younger than you using the singular pronoun. Also the informal second person singular is used even with older people you are acquainted with. Since the formal εσείς (esis) starts getting less common outside schools and workplaces, many people often do not know which form to use (because using a formal version might sound too preppy even to an elder and using the informal version might sound inappropriate to some strangers) and thus prefer to substitute verbs with nouns (avoiding the dillema) until enough information on the counterpart's intentions is gathered in order to use either the formal or the informal second person pronoun and verb conjugation.
In both versions of Hindustani, there are three levels of honorifics:
In Hebrew, there is a T-V distinction used in very formal speech only and only to people of highest authority eg lawyers addressing judges, or when speaking to rabbis. The 2nd person singular "ata" (masculine) or "at" (feminine) is the usual form of address. The formal form of address when speaking to a person of highest authority is the 3rd person singular using the person's title without the use of the pronoun. Thus a rabbi could be asked: "kvod harav yirtse lekhol" (literally the honourable rabbi would like to eat) or a judge told: "kvod hashofet dan bbaqash sheli" (his honour the judge is dealing with my application).
Hungarian provides numerous, often subtle means of T-V distinction:
The use of the second-person conjugation with the pronoun te (plural ti) is the most informal mode. As in many other European languages, it is used within families, among children, lovers, close friends, (nowadays often) among coworkers, and in some communities, suggesting an idea of brotherhood. Adults unilaterally address children this way, and it is also the form used in addressing God, animals, and objects or ideas. Sociologically, the use of this form is widening. Whereas traditionally the switch to te is often a symbolic milestone between people, sometimes sealed by drinking a glass of wine together ("pertu"), today people under the age of about 30 will often mutually adopt te automatically in informal situations. A notable example is the Internet: strangers meeting online use the informal forms of address virtually exclusively, regardless of age or status differences. IKEA (or rather, its Hungarian team) was noted and practically unique in its choice of this way of addressing people in Hungary in its brochures; reactions were mixed.
Nevertheless, formal forms of address are alive and well in Hungarian:
"Tanár úr" is a form of addressing for professors (cf. "Sir"); "tanár urat" is the accusative. Other forms of addressing are also possible, so as to avoid specifying the maga and ön pronouns.
**"Mari nénit" is an example name in the accusative (cf. "Aunt Mary").
In Italian the formal second person for singular is lei, which means "her" (as accusative form of she). It is often capitalized as a sign of respect. Since in Italian egli ("he"), essi ("they") and especially ella ("she") have fallen out of common use, being replaced by lui ("him"), loro ("them") and lei ("her"), it is also possible to use Ella as a very polite alternative, but this is very rarely used if ever, and is perceived as very archaic or snobbish. Under Fascist rule, attempts were made to convert the polite form to voi ("ye"), with some success. Voi might still be used by some, especially in southern Italy; in this case both voi and lei are used, while voi is more formal than lei. The polite plural form Loro ("them") is used rarely, as voi is often perceived already as polite enough. Lei is generally concorded, when necessary, with the gender of the addressee, not therefore necessarily female. It might actually not be present in sentences as Italian is not subject-compulsory, and is then understood by the verb being conjugated in the third person.
In modern Icelandic the formal second person pronoun is not in use, that goes for both the singular form and the plural. They are only used on rare occasions when one intends to be extremely formal or when one wants to treat another person with contempt, possible expressing that the person one is talking to is indeed not of great significance or importance.
In Japanese, as in Vietnamese, kinship terms, titles, or names are commonly used instead of first-, second- or third-person pronouns. As in Korean, there are several levels of politeness regarding to social hierarchy, and polite language encompasses not only pronouns, but verb endings and vocabulary as well. (See the articles Japanese pronouns and Japanese honorifics for more information.)
Much like Japanese, the Korean language has complex gradations. It uses honorifics and no less than seven speech levels, making for a cartesian product of 14 basic verb stems. Nevertheless, most levels have all but disappeared from everyday language, so one can simplify this into the basic distinction between plain and polite conjugations of verbs and adjectives. In general, the plain form is used when speaking to family, close friends, and social inferiors, and the polite form otherwise. When two Korean-speaking strangers meet where none is the obvious social superior, both use the polite form; when it is determined that one or both can switch to the plain form, one often asks for permission for this switch. The phrase used to describe this is mareul nota (literally “to release language”). In Korean, the polite form is called jondaenmal and the plain form is called yesanmal or banmal. In contrast to the neutral term yesanmal, banmal (literally “half speech”) often has a rather negative connotation, referring for instance to the plain form that one may deliberately use to provoke someone who should be addressed in the polite form.
There is a similar phenomenon called nopimmal, which is honorific speech triggered not by the addressee but by the content of an expression. It is used independently of the speech levels. For example, in -hasimnida “do(es) …”, the speaker uses the infix -si- to honour the subject of the sentence and the ending -mnida to express courtesy or politeness (or simply his distance) towards the addressee. As the subject of the sentence and the addressee don't have to be the same person both forms can be mixed. The speaker can honour a higher person he's talking about with the infix -si- while talking to a friend who is addressed in the informal banmal.
In Norwegian, the use of the polite form De is today all but extinct. Norwegians almost exclusively use du in their daily life. De may still be used in some very formal situations or when talking to elderly people, but may be considered rude in other settings. De can also be found in written works, theatrical plays and translations where an impression of formality must be retained.
[However, it should be mentioned that Norwegians also generally refer to one another by first name only unless the person is better known by their full or last name only, putting this weakening of the courteous pronoun into a general pattern of declining use of polite speech.
Example: A student might address his professor John Doe, not as "Mr./Dr. Doe", but as "John", but would refer to the president of the US as "Bush", not "George".
Nicknames are not very common.]
In very broad terms, and depending on the country or region, Portuguese tu, você (both meaning singular "you") and vocês (plural "you") are used in informal situations, while in formal contexts o senhor, a senhora, os senhores and as senhoras, particularly in Brazil. (masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural "you", respectively) are preferred. However, there is considerable regional variation in the use of these terms, and more specific forms of address are sometimes employed.
Historically, você derives from vossa mercê ("your mercy" or "your grace") via the intermediate forms vossemecê and vosmecê; compare with the derivation of Spanish usted from vuestra merced. For that reason, você and vocês require verbs conjugated in the 3rd. person, rather than the 2nd. person.
The second person plural pronoun vós, from Latin vos, has fallen into disuse in all but a few regional dialects of Northern Portugal, where it expresses an intermediate degree of formality between tu and você(s). Its use is kept as an archaism in literature (historical setting), prayer (when addressing a deity) or exaggerated (incl. mock) ceremonial.
Romanian dumneavoastră when used for the second-person singular formal takes plural verbs but singular adjectives, similar to French vous. It is used roughly in the same manner as in Continental French and shows no signs of disappearing. It originates from domnia voastră - your lordship. The form dumneata (originating from domnia ta - thy lordship) is less distant than dumneavoastră and somewhat midway between tu and dumneavoastră. Today, however, at least in large urban centers and among the increasingly standardized Romanian register, dumneata is very rarely used.
Russian distinguishes between familiar ty (ты) and respectful Vy (Вы), which is also used familiar address for several people. (Respectful Vy may be capitalized, while plural vy is not.) Generally, ty is used among friends and relatives, but the usage depends not only on the closeness of the relationship but also on age and the formality of the situation (e.g., work meeting vs. a party). Children always ty to address each other and are addressed this way by adults but are taught to address adults with vy. Younger adults typically also address older adults outside the family as vy regardless of intimacy, and may be addressed as ty in return. When talking to each other young people often start with the formal vy when talking to each other but may transition to ty very quickly in an informal situation. Among older people ty is often reserved for closer acquaintances. Unless there is a substantial difference in age, the choice of the form is symmetric: if A uses ty to address B, then B also uses ty to address A. While people may transition quickly from vy to ty, such transition presumes mutual agreement. Use of ty without consent of the other person is likely to be viewed as poor conduct or even as an insult, particularly if the other party maintains using vy.
Historically, the rules have been in favor of more formal usage; as late as the 19th century, it was accepted in many circles (generally among the more educated) that vy is to be used between close friends, between husband and wife, and when addressing one's parents (but not one's children), all of which situations today would strongly call for using ty.
The choice between ty and vy is closely related, yet sometimes different, from the choice of the addressing format - that is, the selection from the first name, patronymics, last name, and the title to be used when addressing the person. Normally, ty is associated with the informal addressing by first name only (or, even more informally, by the patronymics only), whereas vy is associated with the more formal addressing format of using the first name together with patronymics (roughly analogous to "title followed by last name" in English) or the last name alone or with a title (the last name is almost never used together with either of the other two names to address someone, although such combinations are routinely used to introduce or mention someone). However, sometimes an informal addressing scheme is used with vy, and conversely, a more formal scheme with ty. The former is sometimes associated with the intelligentsia, while the latter may be associated with the less educated people, particularly those assuming positions of some influence under the Communist Party of the USSR.
The informal form of the second-person singular in Scottish Gaelic is thu (emphatic: thusa), used when addressing a person the speaker knows well, or when addressing a person younger or relatively the same age as the speaker. When addressing a superior, an elder, or a stranger, or in conducting business, the form sibh (emphatic: sibhse) is used. (Sibh is also the second-person plural). This distinction carries over into prepositional pronouns: for instance, agad and agaibh (at you), riut and ruibh (with you), umad and umaibh (about you), etc.
In Spanish, the respectful form requires verbs to be conjugated in the third person singular; this is because the form usted evolved from the title vuestra merced (your grace) which naturally took the third person. Compare Portuguese você. In some cases, if talking to a younger person, elder people tend to use the form usted combining it with the first name, or combining it with Don (e.g. Don Miguel), if the other person is older.
Close friends, of course, are tú and venerable old ladies are usted, but there is a wide grey area in the middle. Even that is not universally true: in the Spanish dialects of some parts of Latin America (for example, in many parts of Colombia and Guatemala), tú is almost never used, not even with close friends or relatives, which are usted, and tú is more common in Mexico and California: advertisements often use tú or its possessive tu, for example "En tu canal 73"/Lit ("On your channel 73"). In Argentina, where Rioplatense Spanish is very common, the informal pronoun tú is replaced with vos, which is used rather indiscriminately (see voseo).
In the plural, Spanish presents the T-form vosotros and the V-form ustedes, which uses verbs in the third person plural. However, only Northern Spain has retained this distinction, while in Southern Spain, the Canaries and Latin America, ustedes is the only form used in all contexts.
In Swedish there has been a marked difference between usage in Finland-Swedish compared to in Sweden. While the form Ni (noted as formal above) has remained the common respectful address in Finland-Swedish, it was until the 1960s considered somewhat careless, bullying or rude in Sweden, where addressing in 3rd person with repetition of name and title was considered proper and respectful. After that the usage swiftly changed in Sweden, and the 2nd person du (noted as informal above) came to dominate totally, until recently when in the late 1990s a usage resembling that in Finnish or Finland-Swedish has become popular among the youngest adults. It is also now common to see Du capitalized in places where the formal Ni would have been used before, such as in printed instructions or on signs. Today, Ni starts to become more often used. In the late 90s, Ni was all but extinct, now businesspartners often say Ni again; everyone estimated older than 35 might also be addressed as Ni in shops and restaurants.
In contemporary Turkish, T-V distinction is strong. Friends and family members speak to one another using the second singular person "sen" as well as adults use "sen" to address minors. In formal situations (meeting people first time, business, customer-clerk, colleagues) second plural "siz" is used widely. In very formal situations double plural second person "sizler" may be used to refer to a very respected person. Rarely, third plural conjugation of the verb (but not the pronoun) may be used to emphasize utmost respect. In imperative, there are three forms: second singular person for informal, 2nd plural person for formal and double plural 2nd person for very formal situations: "gel" (second singular, informal), "gelin" (second plural, formal), "geliniz" (double second plural, very formal). The very formal forms are not frequently used.
In the extinct Ubykh language, the T-V distinction was most notable between a man and his mother-in-law, where the plural form supplanted the singular very frequently, possibly under the influence of Turkish. The distinction was upheld less frequently in other relationships, but did still occur.
The Uyghur language is notable for using four different forms, to distinguish both singular and plural in both formal and informal registers. The informal plural silär originated as a contraction of sizlär, which uses a regular plural ending. In Old Turkic, as still in modern Turkish, siz was the original second-person plural. However, in modern Uyghur siz has become restricted to the formal singular, requiring the plural suffix -lär for the plurals.
Siz as the formal singular pronoun is characteristic of Ürümchi dialect, which is the Uyghur literary standard. In Turfan they say sili and in Kashgar dialect, özlär. Sili is also used in other areas sometimes, while in literary Uyghur özlär as a singular pronoun is considered a "hyperdeferential" level of respect; the deferential plural form is härqaysiliri.
Vietnamese does not have a clear concept of pronouns. Any noun can be used to refer to people, especially kinship terms. Pronouns are sometimes not needed in a normal conversation, as the speaker can always refer to him/herself, the audience, and others directly by name, which might seem strange to English speakers. The nouns used to refer to people can reveal not only the level of formality, but also the social relationship between the speaker and the person being referred to, differences in age, and even the attitude of the speaker toward the person being referred to.
There is an informal second-person pronoun: mày. This term is always condescending and should only be used with someone who is both familiar with and subordinate to the speaker. Young people also utilize it frequently.
Some languages have a verb to describe the fact of using either a T or a V form. Some also have a related noun or pronoun.
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