Datapoint Polish / Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns

Language:Polish
Feature:Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns by Johannes Helmbrecht
Value:Binary politeness distinction

Notes

Pan

2nd sg. hon.

- masculine polite form of address in Polish urban

areas;

- generally used to address adult strangers; there is no

asymmetry in the use of Pan/ Pani versus ty(2sg.fam)

Pani

2nd sg. hon.

- feminine polite form of address in Polish urban areas;

- generally used to address adult strangers; there is no

asymmetry in the use of Pan/ Pani versus ty(2sg.fam)

Panie

2nd pl. hon.

- feminine plural polite address form

Panowie

2nd pl. hon.

- masculine plural polite address form

Państwo

2nd pl. hon.

- this form is used if men and women belong to the

group to be politely addressed; corresponds to the

French Messieurs-dames

ty

2nd sg. fam.

- regular familiar 2nd person pronoun used for

addreessing children and close kins

wy

2nd pl. fam.

- in urban environments, wy is used as 2nd plural

intimate form of address

wy

2nd sg. hon.

- in all rural dialects of Polish, this is the polite formof

address;

- it is also used as the ideologically prefered form of

address among the members of the Polish United Workers' Party;in urban environments, wy is used as 2nd plural intimateform of address

References