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Korean politeness levels ( wasRe: Tonal Languages taken toextremes)

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, September 27, 2001, 22:56
Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> Ah. Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. :-) My teach-yourself book > does give "sayonara" as a conversation-ender but the context wasn't clear. > I'll have to remember that.
I get the impression that it depends on the speaker, some people use "sayonara" lightly, while others only use it for a permanent good-bye.
> deferential: -(seu)mnida > polite: -eoyo/-ayo > blunt: -so/-o (infrequent) > familiar: -ne (infrequent) > intimate: -eo/-a > plain: -ta/da
Yikes! *Six* levels? Makes -masu in Japanese seem pretty pathetic. :-)
> Since this list is probably about half my elders and half age- > mates/youngers, maybe I should just hedge my bets:
Better to be too polite than not polite enough, right? :-) -- "No just cause can be advanced by terror" ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

Replies

Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
SuomenkieliMaa <suomenkieli@...>