Re: All in the family.

On 12/13/06, Chris Peters <beta_leonis@...> wrote:
> Japanese distinguishes between "formal" and "informal" versions of the same
> particular relative.  The informal version is used when talking *about* your
> own relative, while the formal version is used when you're talking directly
> to them, or if you're talking about somebody else's.
I wonder whether "plain" vs "honorific" is a better pair of words than
"formal" and "informal", since which one you use depends not on how
formally you're speaking but on the context in which you refer to them
-- when talking to someone else, you use plain words when talking
about your own family and honorific ones when talking about your
interlocutor's, and when directly addressing someone, you also use the
appropriate honorific word.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>