Social Niceties IV: Politeness & Obscenity

At last, the fourth and final installment of this series on social-focused language in Koa: ways of indicating respect or politeness on the one hand, and obscenity or disparagement on the other. The foundation for both types of language is long-standing, and some of the constructions discussed here have existed for a long time, but in many cases there was a lot of development and extrapolation needed.

Here is a start to the subject, with the caveat that real patterns of usage will need to be developed via...well, usage. This is an area for which need has arisen rather less in existing Koa texts, in which I've been primarily (A) journaling, or (B) talking to children!

11. Respect & Politeness

11.1 The honorific -a

The most basic morpheme to add formality, politeness or deference to an utterance is the honorific particle -a (-ha after -a in the stem), which has been mentioned many times previously in this series. By default, the honorific is suffixed to the verbal unit:

kea sa se-hálu-a?
what FOC 2SG-want-HON
"what would you like?"

ai se-me-táli-a?
QU 2SG-COM-offspring-HON
"do you happen to have any children?"

kéle-a sa se-noa?
what-HON FOC 2SG-name
"what might your name be?"

The last two translations are getting a bit heavy-handed in trying to convey a kind of formality that English doesn't really express consistently. Languages with T-V-type distinctions don't quite get at it either: kélea sa senoa? could sometimes translate into Spanish as ¿cómo se llama Usted? but not always. Honorifics can be inserted to denote extra politeness even in contexts where a Spanish speaker would not use Usted except in jest: with a romantic partner, for example.

It's important to keep emphasizing that these translations are attempts to get at the intended meaning, but miss the mark somewhat. In my idiolect, "sir" is quite formal; I would always address my boss with héia "hello" or kea sa semáia "how are you?" where I would never dream of calling him "sir" in English.

It is possible to amplify the implied politeness by adding -a to more than one constituent, though in all but the most formal of situations this may feel a little over-the-top:

kéle-a sa se-nóa-ha?
what-HON FOC 2SG-name-HON
"what might your name be, sir?" "might I have the honor of your name?"

11.2 Terms of address

For polite address, the most flexible is based on the root cano "honorable, admirable":

cánoa "sir/ma'am/miss"
cano, cánoka/cánoe "gentleman/lady"

The first expression, cánoa, is ungendered: an all-purpose form of direct address for anyone being shown overt respect: approximately English "sir," "ma'am" or "miss." In 3rd-person reference the root may also appear on its own, or with the gendered suffixes -ka or -e if desired: Ai secuteapu ti cáno(ka)? "Could you assist this gentleman?" In these cases the honorific is not usual: *cánokaha.

Where "sir" or "ma'am" is intended to denote serious deference or adherence to a hierarchy -- speaking to a superior officer in the military, for example -- we have an additional option using the root ula, literally "higher in a hierarchy." Again, the form with the honorific affix is used primarily in direct address, the other forms in the 3rd person:

úlaha "sir/ma'am"
úla, úlaka, úlae "superior, superior officer (m/f)"

Note that the opposite of ula, nala "lower in a hierarchy" may be used without disparagement to refer to, for example, one's direct reports: nálaka/nálae. However, note that -- outside of the military -- in direct address this term is likely to be taken as strange or offensive: Mitace, nálaha! "With all due respect, silence, underling!"

Speaking to or of one's boss or leader specifically, etu "main, chief, lead" is available: étua for direct address, etu/étuka/étue in the 3rd person. Etu without an honorific has a jocular sense, much like "boss" may sometimes appear in English.

Lastly, if the referent is a literal member of the nobility in a given society, terms based on the root ialo would be used: iáloa "my lord, my lady, noble born"; iáloka "gentleman, nobleman"; iáloe "lady, noblewoman."

11.3 Phrases of deference

In contexts of great social distance between speaker and addressee, a number of expressions use the roots vati "require" and kase "command":

sevátia? "What can I do for you?" lit. "You require?", short for Kea sa sevatiá? "What do you require?"

kásea? or sekásea? "What would you like, sir/ma'am?" lit. "(you) command?", short for Kea sa sekásea "What do you command?"

These phrases have much wider usage than the direct English translations might suggest. (Se)kásea? might be used by a server in a nice restaurant to mean "what would you like to order?", or as a formal "pardon me?" in a situation of receiving instructions from a superior.

Also relevant to these types of contexts is heti, literally "immediate," meaning "right away, got it, yessir": a statement of understanding/acceptance of direction.

12. Disparagement & Obscenity

12.1 The pejorative -mu

Parallel with the honorific -a is the pejorative suffix -mu, indicating dislike, irritation, disrespect or general disparagement. When its scope is a whole utterance, like -a it tends to appear on the verb:

kea sa se-éte-mu?
what FOC 2SG-do-PEJ
"What the hell did you do?"

-mu is somewhat freer than -a, however, in that its scope may also apply specifically to the constituent to which it is affixed. In the above, this gives an additional possible reading of "What did you screw up?" Other examples:

nekea sa ka túsi-mu-ni?
where FOC DEF book-PEJ-1SG
"Where's my damn book?"

ka áuto-ni i súlu-mu
DEF car-1SG MAIN.CL collapse-PEJ
"my car fucking broke down"

ka áuto-mu-ni i sulu
DEF car-PEJ-1SG MAIN.CL collapse
"my lousy car broke down"

Note that the sense of ka áutoni i súlumu, with the pejorative suffix on the verb, is general upset about the situation; in ka áutomuni i sulu, on the other hand, the suffix on "car" identifies it as the specific object of disparagement.

Question words like kea "what," keka "who" and nekea "where" may themselves also take -mu for a sense of "what/who/where the hell":

kéa-mu sa se-ma-éte?
what-PEJ FOC 2SG-IMPF-do
"What the hell are you doing?"

12.2 Obscene words

Cursing and obscene invective are, alas, not yet particularly well developed in Koa, and are still rather tame. In approximate order of intensity, the ones I've identified so far are:

havu "nasty, dishonorable, shameful" -- the opposite of cano. In my idiolect, this might correspond in strength to words like "lousy," "bastard," "asshole," etc.
ceu "despised, damned"
peke "goddamn, fucking, piece-of-shit"

The above are all adjectival in core sense, but are commonly used as interjections as well:

havu "hell, bastard, asshole"
ceu "damn"
peke "fuck, shit"

Combinations with question words are also possible:

kea/keka ceu..., ke ceu... "what/who the hell..."
nekea peke... "where the fuck..."

12.3 Phrases of disparagement

The obscenities discussed in the previous section may be directed at another party either via the imperative particle vi, or in apposition with se "you":

vihavu, havu se "you bastard/asshole"
viceu, ceu se "damn you"
vipeke, peke se "fuck you"

The imperative forms may be strengthened with a following ablative directional marker o, roughly analogous to "off" in some English expressions:

viceu o "go to hell"
vipeke o "fuck off"

Note that o is stressed in such uses, and may be so spelled: vipeke ó, etc.

Other expressions of disapprobation, all of which become stronger/more vulgar with -mu:

mitace(mu) (o) "shut (the hell) up"
(vi)lahe(mu) o "go (the fuck) away"
láhe(mu)ni o "leave me (the fuck) alone"

Of course, obscenity in Koa is still in its infancy, and a skillful speaker will no doubt find many additional creative ways of expressing these kinds of emotions!

This concludes our catalog of the language currently at Koa's disposal for social, discourse and emotive purposes...but again, this is an open-ended and constantly evolving domain in any language, and will continue to develop as opportunities for use emerge. If I can recruit even one additional speaker someday, I'm sure the richness of the language in these areas will swell very quickly.