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 ('elder brother') for males, and by chi ('elder sister') for females; - aristocracy, professionals, landowners, buisiness executives use it to address laborers, and servants; - age seems to have an overriding function, an older laborer is politely address by ong ('grandfather') or by bà ('grandmother'); - anh is not fixed to a person category, it can therefore not 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 and under 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 women the same age as the speaker or older, unless they merit cu; - bà is not fixed to a person category, it can therefore not 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 of respect than kinship term address forms |
bay |
2nd sg. infer. |
- abrupt form expresses deep familiarity or signals that the speaker considers the hearer grossly inferior; - the latter use is arrogant, so that this pro is rarely used; - chúngbay is 2nd pl (familiarity/ inferiority); - interestingly, there is no polite/ respectful equivalent 2nd person pro |
chị |
2nd sg. infer. |
- outside the extended family; - persons of lower class are addressed by anh ('elder brother') for males, and by chị ('elder sister') for females; - aristocracy, professionals, landowners, buisiness executives address laborers and servants with chị ; - age seems to have an overriding function, an older laborer is politely address by ong ('grandfather') or by bà ('grandmother'); - chị is not fixed to a person category, it can therefore 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 about ten 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 the speaker considers the hearer grossly inferior; - the latter use is arrogant, so that this pro is rarely used - 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 fixed to one person category |
thây giáo |
2nd sg. hon. |
- 'teaching master'; - probably not a real personal pronoun, because it is not fixed to one person category |
thây thuoc |
2nd sg. hon. |
- 'medicine master'; - probably not a real personal pronoun, because it is not fixed to one person category |