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དགེ་ལ་ Genla

Discipline · in Lexicon

ཞེ་ས་

Honorific Speech

zhe sa

The second vocabulary: the honorific words for body, action and possession, when they are used, and how the register is learned.

This page is a placeholder. It exists so that the structure does; the text will follow, and will be checked by a teacher of the field before it is called finished.

Tibetan keeps a parallel vocabulary for respect. The head is mgo, or dbu when it is a respected person’s. To eat is za, or mchod; to go is ‘gro, or phebs. Which word a speaker uses depends on who is spoken of and who is addressed, and the choice is made in every sentence. It is learned by ear in a household that uses it, and it is one of the first things to fade when a language is spoken only among peers.

The pages here will present the honorific vocabulary by theme, with the rules of use.