Do other languages still have very formal registers for situations where the speakers are extremely disparate in status?

In English this is pretty common in high fantasy fiction stories, but even in real life such a situation could theoretically still arise.

e.g. a low ranking nun addressing the Pope in a formal session of the Holy See with both speaking English:

Nun: "This lowly supplicant humbly begs for your attention."

Pope: "One may speak."

Nun: "Holy Father, my abbess has instructed my unworthy self to deliver the following message for the consideration of your majesty's heavenly wisdom..."

I know Chinese used to have this level of honorific for speaking to the emperor but got rid of it in the 20th century.

Are there any other languages with this, perhaps Japanese or Turkish since they had the Ottoman court system?

submitted by /u/SoulofZ
[link] [comments]

from Language Learning https://ift.tt/AtLg861
via Learn Online English Speaking

Comments