Pronoun avoidance

Many languages feature the T–V distinction, where two or more different pronouns are used contextually to convey formality or familiarity. In contrast, languages with pronoun avoidance tend to feature complex systems of honorifics and use pronoun avoidance as a form of negative politeness,{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Penelope |last2=Levinson |first2=Stephen C. |date=1987 |title=Politeness: some universals in language usage |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521308625}} instead employing expressions referring to status, relationship or title. In these languages, second person pronouns still exist, but are used primarily to address social equals and inferiors.

Languages with pronoun avoidance cluster in East and South-East Asia. For example, in Indonesian, the standard terms of respectful forms of address are Bapak (literally "father") and Ibu ("mother") for men and women respectively,{{cite journal |last=Morin |first=Izak |title=TRANSLATING PRONOUNS, PROPER NAMES AND KINSHIP TERMS FROM INDONESIAN INTO ENGLISH AND VICE VERSA |url=http://journal.teflin.org/index.php/journal/article/view/73/69 |journal=TEFLIN Journal |volume=16 |issue=2 |date=2005 |pages=181–194 |access-date=1 April 2024}} and the neologism Anda was invented in the 1950s to function as a polite second-person pronoun.{{Cite web|url=https://masteringbahasa.com/whats-the-difference-between-anda-and-kamu-in-indonesian|title=What's the Difference between 'Anda' and 'Kamu' in Indonesian?|date=24 May 2018 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180527044600/https://masteringbahasa.com/whats-the-difference-between-anda-and-kamu-in-indonesian |archive-date=27 May 2018 |website=Mastering Bahasa}} Japanese, well known for its elaborate system of honorific speech, also exhibits pronoun avoidance,{{cite book |last=Maynard |first=Senko K. |title=An Introduction to Japanese Grammar and Communication Strategies |page=45 |publisher=The Japan Times |edition=4th |date=1993 |isbn=4-7890-0542-9}} to such an extent that Maynard suggests that Japanese “lacks a pronominal system”.{{cite book |last=Maynard |first=Senko K. |title=Japanese Communication: Language and Thought in Context |page=105 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |date=1997 |jstor=j.ctt6wqqv1 |isbn=978-0-8248-1799-2 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqqv1 |access-date=1 April 2024}}

Pronoun avoidance may extend to first and third person pronouns as well. In Vietnamese, a set of finely graded kinship terms largely replace all pronouns, but it is also common particularly for women to refer to themselves by name, and titles are often used for third parties.{{cite book |last=Pham |first=Hoa |chapter=Gender in addressing and self-reference in Vietnamese |title=Gender across languages: the linguistic representation of women and men |volume=2 |date=2001 |pages=281–312}}

As well, there may be sociolects or dialects where pronoun avoidance occurs while more prevalent forms of the language lack it. Many Orthodox Jews, when addressing a rabbi, teacher, or other spiritual authority, will address him with the word "Rebbi" instead of "you."{{Cite web |title=Okay to address a rabbi with "you"? |url=https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/47514/okay-to-address-a-rabbi-with-you |website=judaism.stackexchange.com |access-date=1 April 2024}}{{Cite web |title=Speaking to a Rabbi in the Third Person |url=https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/37952/speaking-to-a-rabbi-in-the-third-person/37983#37983 |website=judaism.stackexchange.com |access-date=1 April 2024}} The practice is very old, dating at least to the Talmud,Brachos 27b et al. and has been noted in Halachic literature.{{Cite journal |title=Yoreh deʻah |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004234758.ma60 |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=Moses Maimonides, Unparalleled Editions Online |doi=10.1163/9789004234758.ma60}}Chida, Yoreh Deah 242:6 However, though some English-speaking Jews do this, this practice is absent in English as a whole.

The World Atlas of Language Structures{{Cite web|url=https://wals.info/feature/45A#2/23.1/149.1|website=WALS Online |title=Feature 45A: Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns}} characterizes the following languages as exhibiting pronoun avoidance:

• Burmese
• Indonesian
• Japanese
• Khmer
• Korean
• Thai
• Vietnamese

Children with autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit pronoun reversal or pronoun avoidance, using proper names instead.{{cite journal |last=Jordan |first=Rita R. |date=1989 |title=An experimental comparison of the understanding and use of speaker-addressee personal pronouns in autistic children |journal=International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=169–179 |url=https://doi.org/10.3109/13682828909011954 |doi=10.3109/13682828909011954|pmid=2605110 }} Since autistic children often have difficulty with pronouns, this phenomenon has been attributed variously to input from adults avoiding pronouns, or abnormalities in how children with ASD experience the self.{{citation |url=https://www.bu.edu/autism/files/2010/03/Shield___Meier_BUCLD_38_Proceedings.pdf |title=Personal Pronoun Avoidance in Deaf Children with Autism |first1=Aaron |last1=Shield |first2=Richard P. |last2=Meier |work=Proceedings of the 38th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development |volume=2 |location=Somerville, MA |publisher=Cascadilla Press |date=2014}}

• Pro-drop language, where pronouns may be omitted when they can be inferred from context
• T–V distinction
• Pronoun game

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Category:Linguistics

Category:Pronouns