A pronominal form used for showing greater respect or social distance is never eliminated from the system of reference in favour of one for showing less respect or social distance.
Standardized
A pronominal form used for showing greater respect or social distance is never eliminated from the system of reference in favour of one for showing less respect or social distance.
Keywords
pronoun, personal pronoun, social distance, respect, honorific
In Hungarian, the very recent trend has been to generalize MAGA, a polite pronoun, even in formal situations and extend the use of ‘thou’ to a wider range of social relations. (Hetzron 1980: 273)[which confirms the universal! ]
German at some stage(s) had these as pronouns of singular address:du – er/sie/es [literally 3SG] – ihr [lit. 2PL] – Sie [lit. 3PL]Presumably, er/sie/es and ihr were social-distance forms vis-a-vis du; and they were given up, while old close du stayed on.Also, it has been said that in informal modern times socially-distant Sie is yielding to du, too.Are these counterexamples?
German at some stage(s) had these as pronouns of singular address:du – er/sie/es [literally 3SG] – ihr [lit. 2PL] – Sie [lit. 3PL]Presumably, er/sie/es and ihr were social-distance forms vis-a-vis du; and they were given up, while old close du stayed on.Also, it has been said that in informal modern times socially-distant Sie is yielding to du, too.Are these counterexamples?