Re: Labov's latest discovery in sociolinguistics

Trond Engen pravi:

If Yiddish uses 2p plural for the polite form and German 3p plural then maybe some earlier Germanic language used both, just like Slovenian?

Yes, that was my idea, or, at least, that some subset of German made the distinction.

Ok, you say it is a cultural thing, and not something inherent in the language.



I have checked the Slovene online virtual library about onikanje: it has two articles, one in 'Slovenski jezik = Slovene linguistic studies ISSN: 1408-2616', and it seems it is in English:

AVTOR................... : Reindl, Donald F. - avtor
NASLOV.................. : Slovene ultra-formal address: borrowing, innovation, and analysis
V PUBLIKACIJI........... : Slovenski jezik. - ISSN 1408-2616. - 6
(2007), str. [151]-168.
OSTALI NASLOVI.......... : Onikanje v slovenščini: prevzem, inovacija in
analiza
PREDMETNE OZNAKE........ : slovenščina // onikanje //
Slovene language // formal address

and one in a local newspaper.

I will make a copy and report back.

Here I coin 'superpolite' and then you find someone who's been using 'ultra-formal'. I bet someone will beat me even to my own funeral.

The article is from 2007, so you didn't miss much. It is the first time I see an English term for onikanje - the grammar from the Seelrc doesn't even mention the polite form.

The title of the article above includes the word "borrowing", so your hypothesis is probably correct, but then it is also followed by "inovation". I wonder what the inovation would be...


How many German speaking centers of international influence in polite manners do you find around there?

Hm... There was no politness around here, at least not in last century... ;)
.

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