Re: CHAT: Politeness in conlangs

In Tokana, normal commands are formed using the imperative suffixes,
"-o" for positive imperatives and "-uot" for negative imperatives:

        iaso homa       "eat some bread!"
        iasuot homa     "don't eat any bread!"

Polite commands and requests are formed with the irregular auxiliary
verb "slune", used with the main verb in the dependent order (= the
form used when the verb is in a dependent clause):

        slune iasat homa   "please eat some bread"
                           "why don't you eat some bread?"

"Slune" is from an obsolete verb root "slun-", meaning "to help",
to which the also obsolete optative suffix "-e" has been added.
"Slune iasat homa" is thus literally something like "May (you) help
(by) eating bread".

Matt.