[YG Conlang Archives] > [romanceconlang group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
Thanks, all, for the "Usted" responses. It set off another fascinating
exchange...
The reason for my query is that a friend of mine is learning Spanish, which
is not a language I've made any effort with before. He's enlisted my help
with understanding verb conjugation and so on, and I noticed that Usted[es]
takes the third person forms: bells rang, summoning images of Sie, U, De
(Scandinavian) and so on. It's long fascinated me, the way that the 2nd
person pronouns of so many European langs have had a chequered history as a
result of this formal/informal distinction, and the linguistic hoops people
have jumped through to avoid saying "you".
For Capraian, I'm inclined to commandeer the reflexive pronoun "sec" for
polite-2nd-person duty ("Would herself like another cucumber sandwich?") --
has anyone here done similarly, or have you followed the Usted/U or
Sie/De/Lei patterns?
James
==========================================================================
james@hidden.email James Campbell www.zolid.com
Jameld web site: www.zolid.com/zm Plexus Inventions: www.zolid.com/plexus
==========================================================================