In sociolinguistics, a T–V distinction is a contrast, within one language, between second-person pronouns that are specialized for varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee.
Languages (such as English) having no syntactic T–V distinction may have semantic analogues to convey the mentioned attitudes towards the addressee, such as whether to address someone by first or last name, or whether to use "sir"/"ma'am" in US English.
Read more about T–V Distinction: History and Usage, Examples, Related Verbs, Nouns and Pronouns
Other articles related to "distinction":
... In English the analogous distinction may be expressed as "to use first names" or "to be on a first-name basis (with someone)" T verb V verb T noun V noun Basque hika (aritu ...
Famous quotes containing the word distinction:
“Met face to face, these Indians in their native woods looked like the sinister and slouching fellows whom you meet picking up strings and paper in the streets of a city. There is, in fact, a remarkable and unexpected resemblance between the degraded savage and the lowest classes in a great city. The one is no more a child of nature than the other. In the progress of degradation the distinction of races is soon lost.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)