What is an 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.

Kinds
	Here are some kinds of honorifics:
	What is an addressee honorific? What is a bystander honorific? What is a referent honorific?

Generic
	An honorific is a kind of
	What is a word?

Sources
	Crystal 1985 149
	Levinson 1983 62, 90–91
	Comrie 1976b
	Mish 1991 580

Context for this page:

Concept module: honorific
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): H
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

© 2004 SIL International