Language: | Vietnamese |
Feature: | Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns by Johannes Helmbrecht |
Value: | Pronouns avoided for politeness |
anh | 2nd sg. infer. | - outside the extended family; - persons of lower class are addressed by anh ('elderbrother') for males, and by chi ('elder sister') forfemales; - aristocracy, professionals, landowners, buisiness executivesuse it to address laborers, and servants; - age seems to have an overriding function, an older laborer ispolitely address by ong ('grandfather') or by bà('grandmother'); - anh is not fixed to a person category, it can thereforenot considered as a real personal pronoun |
anh | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - toi (1sg.hum) for the speaker (over 20 years)himself; - anh ('elder brother') for boys roughly over twelve andunder twenty |
bà | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - toi for the speaker (over 20 years) himself; - bà ('grandmother') for all married women and for womenthe same age as the speaker or older, unless they meritcu; - bà is not fixed to a person category, it can thereforenot considered as a real personal pronoun |
bác-sĩ | 2nd sg. hon. | - 'doctor', polite means to address s.o.; - status term address forms commonly give a greater degree ofrespect than kinship term address forms |
bay | 2nd sg. infer. | - abrupt form expresses deep familiarity or signals that thespeaker considers the hearer grossly inferior; - the latter use is arrogant, so that this pro is rarelyused; - chúngbay is 2nd pl (familiarity/inferiority); - interestingly, there is no polite/ respectful equivalent 2ndperson pro |
chị | 2nd sg. infer. | - outside the extended family; - persons of lower class are addressed by anh ('elderbrother') for males, and by chị ('elder sister') forfemales; - aristocracy, professionals, landowners, buisiness executivesaddress laborers and servants with chị ; - age seems to have an overriding function, an older laborer ispolitely address by ong ('grandfather') or by bà('grandmother'); - chị is not fixed to a person category, it cantherefore not considered as a real personal pronoun |
cô | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - tôi for the speaker (over 20 years) himself; - cô ('aunt') for unmarried girls and women from aboutten years old, unless they merit bà or cụ. |
cụ | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - toi for the speaker (over 20 years) himself; - cụ ('Great-Grandparents') for persons of advanced age,roughly the age of one's grandparents |
em | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - toi for the speaker (over 20 years) himself; - em ('younger brother') for younger children |
giáo-su̢ | 2nd sg. hon. | -'teacher, professor', probably not a real personal pronoun,because it is not fixed to one person category |
mày | 2nd sg. infer. | - abrupt form expresses deep familiarity, or signals that thespeaker considers the hearer grossly inferior; - the latter use is arrogant, so that this pro is rarelyused - chúng máy is 2nd pl (familiarity/ inferiority) |
ngài/ ngu̢ò̢i | 2nd sg. hon. | - used to address high ranking officials |
ông | 2nd sg. hon. | - outside extended family polite useage; - tôi for the speaker (over 20 years) himself; - ong ('grandfather') for all men twenty and older,unless they deserve cụ; - probably not a real personal pronoun, because it is not fixedto one person category |
thây giáo | 2nd sg. hon. | - 'teaching master'; - probably not a real personal pronoun, because it is not fixedto one person category |
thây thuoc | 2nd sg. hon. | - 'medicine master'; - probably not a real personal pronoun, because it is not fixedto one person category |