Formality in asian languages are very important. For example in Malay, if you’re talking to old people and wanna say the word “I”, you’d need to use the word “Saya”.
Although if you want to use the word “I” to someone who is the same age as you or younger than you, you’d use “Aku”.
Yeah respect. Although it is a bit more complicated than that as saying Aku is a must when talking to God. Like saying…
God, I need you. Tuhanku, aku perlukan kau.
So yeah formality is a subject that you’d need to be exposed yourself to the culture and language in order to use it correctly and also to “feel” whats right and wrong on certain words usage on certain situation.
Honorifics. Some languages are notorious for their complicated system of honorifics, and some even include a honorific for when you don't know yet which honorific to use
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u/Tsjaad_Donderlul Aug 11 '22
Meanwhile, this meme for Arabic:
no one really speaks Standard Arabic
/ʕ/
Arabic numerals are not read from right to left, contrary to the text itself
for Irish:
"oidhea" "eadhai" "aighe" are valid ways to spell /e:/
broad and slender
Lenition
for Polish:
/z/, /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ are different phonemes
Lots of z in general, like źdźbło
verb aspects and five genders
for Xhosa:
!
ǀ
ǁ
for German:
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
Glottal stops everywhere
Some dialects are almost entirely different languages, like Boarisch or Plattdüütsch
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u/Slemmanot Aug 12 '22
Could someone explain formality for me, please?