Re: first lang test
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, February 9, 2001, 0:03 |
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Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> BTW, E-Ching, thanks for that tidbit! Interesting indeed...I hadn't
> thought of the possibility of Japanese pronoun usage being affected by
> fads, though with the school-age set it would make a certain amount of
> sense....
Why not? The pronoun system itself has undergone many changes over the
centuries. Pronouns become gradually less respectful, until they're
abandoned, and new pronouns are invented as respectful pronouns.
"Boku", for one, originally meant "servant", and was a very humble way
of saying "I", that was about a century ago. Today, it can only be used
in informal (IIRC) settings.
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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