Now you Sie me, now you don’t
The history and remnants of the 3pl V address pronoun calque in Slovak (onikanie) and in Czech (onikání)
Among the neighbouring languages that calqued the third person plural (3pl) address pronoun Sie from German in the 18th century, the closely related languages Czech and Slovak offer contrasting diachronic and synchronic uses of their respective Sie-calques. In Czech, onikání (literally ‘addressing with the 3pl masculine pronoun oni’) was among the German linguistic influences hotly fought against by linguistic purists in the Czech National Revival of the 19th century, and, as a consequence, its use today is restricted to jocular or ironic use only. In Slovakia, the national revival came later, and purist proponents of Slovak as a national language did not just have German as a linguistic adversary, but also Hungarian, and to a certain degree, even Czech. Therefore, there was less pressure for onikanie, the Slovak version of onikání, to be ousted so clearly. As a result, the subsequent history and development of 3pl address differs somewhat in Slovak from Czech, something which is confirmed by the status we can still find today of remnants of Slovak onikanie. The diachronic development of Slovak onikanie shows some differences to that of Czech onikání, due, we argue, to the different social and political histories of both languages and of their respective national states. We conducted a pilot study (including data drawn from online discussions by native speakers) into the extent, varieties, and domains where Slovak onikanie is still used. Results show its present usage to be different from that of its Czech counterpart.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The development of pronominal 3pl address in German
- 3.Czech and Slovak – two closely related languages with very different social histories
- 4.History of Czech onikání and Slovak onikanie
- 5.Slovak onikanie and Czech onikání today
- 5.1Remnants of Slovak onikanie
- 5.2Differences and similarities in the use of Czech onikání and Slovak onikanie
- 6.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
References (35)
Ahlgren, Perry
1978 Tilltalsordet ni. Dess semantik och användning i historiskt perspektiv (
Studia Philologiae Scandinavicae Upsaliensia 12). Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anonymous
1787 Über alte und moderne Sprach-Sitte, und Art, sich in verschiedenen Ständen mit Unterschied anzureden.
Journal des Luxus und der Moden 2. 363–374.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bakke, Elisabeth
1999 Doomed to failure? The Czechoslovak nation project and the Slovak autonomist reaction 1918–38. PhD thesis, University of Oslo.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bautista, Maria Lourdes S.
1980 Address in Pilipino radio dramas: alternation and co-concurrence rules.
Philippine Journal of Linguistics 11 (2). 44–63.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berger, Tilman
1995 Versuch einer historischen Typologie ausgewählter slavischer Anredesysteme. In
Daniel Weiss (ed.),
Slavistische Linguistik 1994: Referate des XX. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens, Zürich 20. – 22.9.1994, 15–64. Munich: Sagner.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berger, Tilman
1996 Spuren älterer pronominaler Anredesysteme in west- und ostslavischen Dialekten und substandardsprachlichen Varietäten. In
Wolfgang Girke (ed.),
Slavistische Linguistik 1995. Referate des XXI. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens, Mainz, 26. – 29.9.1995 (
Slavistische Beiträge 342), 7–36. Munich: Sagner.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berger, Tilman
1999 Die sprachliche Charakterisierung von Juden in der tschechischen Prosa des 20. Jahrhunderts. In
Peter Kosta,
Holt Meyer and
Natascha Drubek-Meyer (eds.),
Juden und Judentum in Literatur und Film des slavischen Sprachraums: die geniale Epoche (
Jüdische Kultur 5), 73–94. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Betsch, Michael
2000 Diskontinuität und Tradition im System der tschechischen Anredepronomina (1700–1850) (
Slavistische Beiträge 389). Munich: Sagner.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Biroščáková, Miroslava
2011 Irónia a jej signalizovanie v texte. In
Dana Palecsková,
Zdenka Kumorová &
Peter Gregorík (eds.),
Rara avis: Zborník z VII. Medzinárodnej konferencie študentov a doktorandov, Trnava 27. – 28. apríl 2010, 6–15. Trnava: Katedra slovenského jazyka a literatúry Filozofickej fakulty Univerzity sv. Cyrila a Metoda.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cohen, Marcel
1936 Traité de langue amharique (Abyssinie) (
Travaux et Mémoires de l’Institut d’Ethnologie 24). Paris: Institut d’Ethnologie.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cook, Manuela
2014 Beyond T and V – theoretical reflections on the analysis of forms of address.
American Journal of Linguistics 3 (1). 17–26.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Faarlund, Jan Terje, Svein Lie & Kjell Ivar Vannebo
2006 Norsk referansegrammatikk. 4th edn. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gedike, Friedrich
1794 Ueber Du und Sie in der deutschen Sprache; vorgelesen in der öffent – lichen Versammlung der Berlinischen Akademie der Wissenschaften am 30. Januar 1794. Berlin: Johann Friedrich Unger.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Giger, Markus
2006 Die Sprachsituation in der Slovakei: Diglossie in der Vergangenheit und ihre Spuren in der Gegenwart. In
Jiřina van Leeuwen-Turnovcová &
Nicole Richter (eds.),
Entwicklung slawischer Literatursprachen, Diglossie, Gender: Literalität von Frauen und Standardisierungsprozesse im slawischen Areal (
Specimina Philologiae Slavicae 143), 91–125. Munich: Sagner.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grzega, Joachim & Pavol Štekauer
2008 Survey on some speech-acts in Slovakia.
Journal for EuroLinguistiX 5. 94–100.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Günther, Georg
1787 Über das Sonderbare in der deutschen Höflichkeitssprache im Gebrauche der Fürwörter.
Schriften der Kurfürstlichen Deutschen Gesellschaft in Mannheim 3. 251–292.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Erik & Lars Heltoft
2011 Grammatik over det Danske Sprog: Syntaktiske og semantiske helheder, Volume 2. Copenhagen: Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Horák, Gejza
1980 Popudy Kukučínovho Miša z obrazovky.
Kultúra slova 14 (5). 152–158.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Isačenko, Aleksandr Vasil’evič
1960 Grammatičeskij stroj russkogo jazyka v sopostavlenii s slovackim: Morfologija, Volume 2. Bratislava: Izdat. Slovackoj Akad. Nauk.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jungmann, Josef
1836 Slownjk česko-německý: K-O, Volume 2. Prague: Arcibiskupská knihtiskárna.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kesselová, Jana
2005 Komunikačno-pragmatický status osobných zámen v súčasnej hovorenej komunikácii.
Slovenská reč, 70 (3). 129–141.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kretzenbacher, Heinz L., John Hajek, Robert Lagerberg & Agnese Bresin
2013 Address forms in language contact and language conflict: the curious history and remnants of onikání in Czech.
Australian Slavonic and East European Studies 27 (1–2). 87–103.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Listen, Paul
1999 The emergence of German polite Sie: cognitive and sociolinguistic parameters (
Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics 32). Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Málková, Iva
(ed.) 2010 Adresát František Hrubín: dopisy F. Hrubína, J. Seiferta, J. Strnadla, E. Frynty. Brno: Host.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mistrík, Jozef
1981 Honoratív v slovenčine.
Studia Academica Slovaca 10. 255–263.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nábělková, Mira
2007 Closely-related languages in contact: Czech, Slovak, “Czechoslovak”.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 183. 53–73.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reindl, Donald F.
2008 Language contact, German and Slovenian (
Diversitas Linguarum 20). Bochum: Brockmeyer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reményi, Andrea Ágnes
2001 Language use and hierarchy: A dyadic analysis of address in workplace groups.
Review of Sociology 7 (1). 49–65.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rohlfs, Gerhard
1968 Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti, Volume. 2: Morfologia (
Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi 149). Turin: Einaudi.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schuchardt, Hugo
1884 Slawo-Deutsches und Slawo-Italienisches. Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sedláková, Marianna
2011 Sociolingvistická sonda do používania honoratívu v bežnej komunikácii v slovenčine. In
Jana Pekarovičová,
Miloslav Vojtech &
Eva Španová (eds.):
Prednášky XLVII. letnej školy slovenského jazyka a kultúry (
Studia Academica Slovaca 40), 267–275. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského Bratislava.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stone, Gerald
1977 Address in the Slavonic languages.
The Slavonic and East European Review 40 (4). 491–505.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tomčala, Ján
2009 Porovnanie konceptu oslovenia v slovenčine a čínštine / Ways of address comparison in Slovak and Chinese language. BA thesis, Palacky University Olomouc.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vennemann, Theo & Hans Wagener
1970 Die Anredeformen in den Dramen des Andreas Gryphius. Munich: Fink.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Cingerová, Nina & Irina Dulebová
2021.
Speech Etiquette in Slovak Online Linguaculture. In
Speech Etiquette in Slavic Online Communities,
► pp. 267 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.