Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Politeness

From:M.E.S. <suomenkieli@...>
Date:Saturday, April 6, 2002, 10:47
--- Christopher B Wright <faceloran@...> wrote:
> Iyan Makswel nsakwish: > >Hey, I had an idea for a "politeness" rule in > Lyngom-Vampyr and was > wondering if > >a similar phenomenon occurs in any natlang. > > It happens in Japanese as well as English, I hear. > Eurolangs usually do > this with pronouns (such as Spanish usted from > wossname "your mercy", > such as English "you" rather than "thee, thou"). > Spanish also has that > special word I forget for "I would like".
Yeah, I lied saying I'd only reply to one email earlier - this is my second reply so I'll be late to my rendezvous, but I couldn't resist! :-) Spanish "I would like" would most definitely be "quisiera" and in archaic Span. "quisiese". It's not that special of a form if you consider other verbs of this tense (past conditional, I think, but I really can't recall the tense schema very well at the moment). You have "pudiera" which is "(I or s/he) would be able..." as in "would you be able to open the open?" - it's of the same verb tense. As for Japanese, you are 100% correct these people don't ask direct questions; even if their questions are direct among themselves, questions still sound so formal to the unaccustomed foreign ear! Ex: English direct ques.--> Japanese direct ques. - Where's the door? --> Door, where be.may/it (?) [To wa, doko deshou ka] =OR= [Doa wa, doko desu ka] - Can you tell me where the door is? --> Door, where (?) teaching-receive.not may/I (?) [To wa, doko ka oshiete-itadakemasen deshou ka] - Feel free to call with any questions. (eg, business) --> Nanika go-fumeina ten ga arimashiara, douzo go-renraku kudasaimasu yoo (ni) onegai-moushi- agemasu. [Something (honorific, =you/r)-not.clear point exist.(conditional, =if), in.all.ways (honorific, =you/r)-contact give way (into) (humbly, =we) request-(humbly, =we) verbalize.] M.E.S. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/

Reply

Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>