Re: Distal / polite


"Sean" <notsean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:BF4D20CE.16D4%notsean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
On 9/13/05 11:16 PM, "Ben Bullock"  typed:

(snip)
I'm not sure what the difference with distal and polite is.

One thing that has always bothered me about the desumasutai being designated
the "polite" form is that it almost implies that the plain form is rude or
at least impolite. It isn't. When you're chatting with your friend, it would
be impolite, in a sense, to speak too formally.
"Distal" might be a good alternative, contrasting with "familiar."

I'll use it if it's the commonly accepted term. The problem is that I couldn't find much about "distal" to enlighten me. Another big problem is that Krustuv separated "distal" and "polite" and I have very little idea what he thinks the difference is. The tables he made aren't very enlightening - I can't see why they can't be in the same category. Also he put "itashimasu" into "polite" but I would put that into the "humble" (kensongo) category, so the whole thing seems to be not so solidly based to me. If I don't get any feedback or insight, I'll probably just combine the two things according to my own abilities/knowledge.


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