Popular Post Tomsima Posted October 26, 2019 at 08:58 PM Popular Post Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 at 08:58 PM Just stumbled across this excellent and thoroughly comprehensive guide to the honorific language in Chinese in the form of a wikipedia entry. I thought it seemed a bit of a shame not to share it here, as the author(s) has (have) clearly put in a lot of work into this article. I would say I know or have come across less than a third of all the words listed, fantastic to get a better understanding of a less discussed topic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_honorifics 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flickserve Posted October 27, 2019 at 03:12 AM Report Share Posted October 27, 2019 at 03:12 AM Great resource! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhouhaochen Posted October 27, 2019 at 04:18 AM Report Share Posted October 27, 2019 at 04:18 AM What a great article. I am going to use some of these and see what happens! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 27, 2019 at 04:37 AM Report Share Posted October 27, 2019 at 04:37 AM But the title "Honorifics" is misleading; it's really about Chinese hierarchical terms. That is, in spite of what the Wiki says, I don't think "self-deprecation" for example is an honorific. Perhaps in linguistics I don't know but certainly not in everyday terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted October 27, 2019 at 10:07 PM Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2019 at 10:07 PM self-deprecation = putting yourself down to show respect to the person you are speaking to. I would consider bowing or kneeling to be an act of honouring the person who is bowed or knelt to; using language in the same way seems to fit the category of honorific properly to me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelyus Posted October 28, 2019 at 03:48 PM Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 03:48 PM In linguistic terms, humble language is certainly a part of the language, and was culturally required in Ming and Qing Imperial Mandarin. Anyone who has learnt modern Japanese 謙譲語 kenjougo will know how essential "humble language" is as part of the system of honorifics. Self-deprecation was not and is still not a huge part of jocular self-expression in East Asia, but a huge part of societal requirement, unlike in modern English or in many European languages, although I agree the cultural differences are just points on a continuum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 28, 2019 at 04:16 PM Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 04:16 PM There's a Wikipedia entry on Honorifics generally which says a self-referring term like your ever-obedient servant can be called an anti-honorific. As a humble unlearned, I would have thought that calling another my ever-obedient servant would be an anti-honorific. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted October 30, 2019 at 04:24 AM Report Share Posted October 30, 2019 at 04:24 AM On 10/28/2019 at 6:07 AM, Tomsima said: self-deprecation = putting yourself down to show respect to the person you are speaking to. Polite Question: 您贵姓？ Polite Answer: 免贵姓 -- 李，张，周，etc. or 免贵，姓 -- 李，张，周，etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flickserve Posted May 10, 2020 at 11:09 AM Report Share Posted May 10, 2020 at 11:09 AM Saying 臣 instead of 我 seems to come up quite often in period dramas when addressing higher ranking officials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted August 25, 2023 at 11:19 AM Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2023 at 11:19 AM I have found that the original Wikipedia page for Chinese honorifics was flagged for being too technical and has now been replaced with an oversimplified overview of the topic. The original page is still available via archive.org for those who are looking for this resource: https://web.archive.org/web/20220103224220/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_honorifics 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.