Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Honorific

Definition: 

An honorific is a grammatical form, typically a word or affix, that is socially deictic It expresses, as at least part of its meaning, the relative social status of the speaker with .

  • the addressee
  • a bystander, or
  • some other referent.
Examples: 

(French)

The second-person pronoun forms tu and vous indicate, as part of their meaning, the speaker’s social status relative to the addressee.

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