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English does not have formality encoded in its grammar. No, instead it's in the vocabulary. ;) Many of the most basic words of English exist in more formal an
by mechanical_fish 17y ago
English does not have formality encoded in its grammar.
No, instead it's in the vocabulary. ;)
Many of the most basic words of English exist in more formal and less formal versions. Compare horseman and equestrian, or eat and dine, or smell and fragrance, or hug and embrace.
Many of these apparent redundancies derive from the period when Britain was ruled by native French speakers, who tended to use a lot of French- or Latin-derived words.
I certainly wouldn't claim that spoken English doesn't encode plenty of formality:
*Sir, would you care for an aperitif?*
*No, I ain't hungry.*
Though American culture tends to be deliberately sloppy about who speaks formally to whom, especially compared to what I know of German culture.
- wheels 17y agoDo you know of any language where there are not formal and informal vocabularies? I don't. The point is that in English the additional semantics do not require additional syntax. To make a programming analogy, this is like the difference between C++ having overloadable operators and Java using methods to achieve the same. C++'s grammar is more complicated than Java's, because C++ uses additional syntax to achieve the same semantic ends. The dual French / Germanic roots to English vocabulary does however hint at one of its distinctively complicated features: English pronunciation and spelling is bewildering because of that lineage.
- tmd 17y agoThis is so far my favorite feature of the English language. Formal forms in the grammar are a relict of feudal type of thinking and in modern times they are not only redundant but also harmful. Need to choose between formal 'you' and informal 'you' leads to lots of awkward social situations. If you apply informal 'you' to someone older and who you don't know well it is usually a conversation breaker. If you use formal 'you' when speaking with a coeval it may look like you're patronizing him. Women sometimes get offended because they think you consider them older than they really are, and so on. Also, when you start addressing someone using formal forms it is very hard to switch to informal 'you'. Using these forms affect human thinking and after you have already addressed someone formally (because it was in a professional situation for instance) you are not likely to become friends. In some cultures there is a special complex social protocol for switching from formal 'you' to informal one. This ceremony is sometimes called using a German word 'Bruderschaft' and for some peculiar reason it often involves kissing and drinking alcohol. This, rather unfortunate, photo captures such situation: http://imgur.com/pmf57.jpg http://imgur.com/pmf57.jpg As I find it significantly easier to develop social relationships in English, I often wonder whether this lack of formal 'you' contributes to the economical prosperity of the English-speaking countries (and esp. the even less formal US).
- chokma 17y ago> As I find it significantly easier to develop social relationships in English, I often wonder whether this lack of formal 'you' contributes to the economical prosperity of the English-speaking countries But then, the formal 'you' contributes to professional relationships. Think of it as a safeguard against overstepping an invisible line of proper conduct. It is really more difficult to say "Sie Arschloch" than "Du Arschloch" because the formal 'you' clashes with vulgar language one would use around drinking buddies. try{ assert ! relationship.isCustomerOrBoss() say."You asshole!" } catch(VulgarLanguageException e){ say."That's not acceptable." }