Library

Video Player is loading.
 
Current Time 2:52
Duration 19:45
Loaded: 0.00%
 
x1.00


Back

Games & Quizzes

Training Mode - Typing
Fill the gaps to the Lyric - Best method
Training Mode - Picking
Pick the correct word to fill in the gap
Fill In The Blank
Find the missing words in a sentence Requires 5 vocabulary annotations
Vocabulary Match
Match the words to the definitions Requires 10 vocabulary annotations

You may need to watch a part of the video to unlock quizzes

Don't forget to Sign In to save your points

Challenge Accomplished

PERFECT HITS +NaN
HITS +NaN
LONGEST STREAK +NaN
TOTAL +
- //

We couldn't find definitions for the word you were looking for.
Or maybe the current language is not supported

  • 00:00

    English, you're not normal.

  • 00:02

    Compared to most languages, there are things you're just lacking.

  • 00:06

    You're a fine tongue, don't get me wrong.

  • 00:08

    But take an animated moment to consider some of the main linguistic skills you're missing,

  • 00:14

    and what it might take to unlock them.

  • 00:21

    Turns out there's a lot that languages around the world share but English doesn't have access

  • 00:27

    to.

  • 00:28

    It has to make you wonder, what features are you missing, which languages have them, and

  • 00:34

    if you were English (like you were a whole entire language) how could you achieve the

  • 00:39

    same things?

  • 00:40

    And can I talk about these without messing up the pronunciation?

  • 00:44

    Let's go!

  • 00:46

    First one – easy to spot, easy to hear and super common: reduplication.

  • 00:52

    Say sounds, say them again.

  • 00:55

    Do this to change meaning: take Indonesian saya, me, and turn me into saya-saya, oh poor

  • 01:03

    me.

  • 01:04

    Do it with only part of a word, Pangasinan style: one amigo, many amimigo.

  • 01:12

    Do it because Australia is chock full of reduplicated place names.

  • 01:17

    Do it for so many reasons!

  • 01:20

    This happens seemingly everywhere outside Europe.

  • 01:23

    If you decide to join the reduplicating world, just look to the English... -based creole

  • 01:29

    in Ghana.

  • 01:31

    Reduplicate light in "som lait-lait-lait-lait-lait-lait", and it is lights scattered all over the place.

  • 01:39

    One language reduplicates its way into another skill English doesn't have.

  • 01:44

    If you spoke it, it'd be easier for you to solve the following puzzle.

  • 01:49

    Here are three children.

  • 01:52

    They're proud of themselves today.

  • 01:54

    Why?

  • 01:55

    Let them tell you: "hi, uhm, did you know we read three books"?

  • 01:59

    Question: how many books total were read by these children?

  • 02:04

    Well, ask a Georgian.

  • 02:07

    If the children said the number "sami", it's three total.

  • 02:11

    If they reduplicated "sam-sami", it's three each.

  • 02:16

    So, English, a proposal for you.

  • 02:18

    Try adding onech, twoch, threech.

  • 02:22

    You're so polite to make that distinction.

  • 02:25

    But wait, you're English, you don't have politeness.

  • 02:29

    Which actually makes you like most of the world, but very unlike most Europeans, who

  • 02:35

    almost unanimously have an informal and a formal way to address "you".

  • 02:40

    Du/Sie, tu/vous, εσύ/εσείς, and the list goes on.

  • 02:45

    Throughout India languages get even more polite. Malayalam has at least seven yous ranging

  • 02:52

    from intimate to high honorific, and Marathi even has one for when you meet a stranger

  • 02:59

    and don't know which you to use yet!

  • 03:02

    If you want to add some politeness to your English, don't look far, get back in

  • 03:07

    touch with your inner "thou".

  • 03:09

    Which, pro tip, was not the polite you!

  • 03:13

    You know what else most languages have that English doesn't?

  • 03:17

    Adjectives.

  • 03:18

    That act like verbs.

  • 03:20

    In Kenya the Luo have a word for "tall", which they can treat just like a verb.

  • 03:26

    And they're far from alone in this strategy.

  • 03:29

    She happies, she doesn't happy.

  • 03:32

    It'd be so simple.

  • 03:35

    Here's a big tip you can take from the rest of the world: better ways to ask questions.

  • 03:41

    From the data we've got the single most common question-asking strategy is to add a question

  • 03:46

    particle, usually to the end or less the beginning of your sentence.

  • 03:52

    So in Majang, in Ethopia, you tack on an /ŋ/: you went to work today-ŋ?

  • 03:58

    Or why not put the particle near the exact words you're asking about, like -chu do in

  • 04:03

    Kichwa: wasimanchu rinki, you going to the HOUSE?, or wasiman rinkichu?

  • 04:09

    you GOING to the house?

  • 04:11

    Another way English can follow the global norm is to stop forcing whos and whats

  • 04:17

    to the front.

  • 04:19

    Whom did you see?

  • 04:21

    No, that's awkward, so awkward. Just do it like Swahili. Instead try you saw who, wewe uiona nani.

  • 04:31

    The who is enough to let you know it's a question, and the parallel word order between your

  • 04:37

    Qs & your As is beautiful.

  • 04:39

    See, better questions.

  • 04:42

    It's time to talk about China.

  • 04:44

    In Mandarin, you can be someone or something with shì, but you are somewhere with zài.

  • 04:52

    This kind of split between being versus being-at is very common, and it looks really normal

  • 04:59

    outside of a broad Europe-y area.

  • 05:02

    Languages that do this often take advantage of verbs for temporariness or a change of

  • 05:07

    state, so take a page from Irish history and make that difference: You are a student, but

  • 05:15

    you stand here.

  • 05:17

    Talk about the weather in English, and you'll use a lot of its.

  • 05:22

    It rained.

  • 05:24

    It's sunny.

  • 05:26

    Who or what does this "it" refer to anyways?

  • 05:30

    Well, maybe nothing.

  • 05:32

    So why not drop it?

  • 05:33

    In many languages, you do just that!

  • 05:36

    If you studied Spanish or Italian, you know about llueve or piove.

  • 05:41

    No subject ever.

  • 05:43

    So it's your turn, English.

  • 05:45

    Save yourself a syllable: snowed, rained.

  • 05:50

    One of my favorites is instrumentals versus comitatives.

  • 05:54

    Tell me, English, how many withs do you have?

  • 05:58

    Just the one, the one "with".

  • 06:01

    But how many could you have?

  • 06:03

    In a normal language, the answer is two!

  • 06:06

    I built it with friends; we built it with hammers.

  • 06:11

    In the Ainu language of Hokkaidō, there's a word "tura" for going-with, and a different

  • 06:17

    "ani" for the, uh, using-with.

  • 06:20

    Finnish makes the same difference but with suffixes.

  • 06:24

    If they can have two withs, why can't you?

  • 06:28

    Before I get to my number one thing you're missing out on as an English speaker, an honorable

  • 06:32

    mention I appreciate in some languages I've met.

  • 06:36

    It doesn't seem to be the most popular strategy around the world, but in certain areas it

  • 06:41

    absolutely is: clusivity.

  • 06:44

    If we're talking about us, we just have a "we" to use.

  • 06:48

    But languages in the Pacific like te reo Māori distinguish tātou, a bunch of us including

  • 06:55

    you, from mātou, me and some other people but excluding you.

  • 07:00

    They also complicate this by having duals for two of us or plurals for three plus, so

  • 07:06

    you'll need to juggle tāua, māua, tātou and mātou just to say "we", and that's not

  • 07:12

    even the biggest Oceanic strategy.

  • 07:14

    That's right, Lihir, you know who you are, keep doing your thing.

  • 07:18

    One last one for you, English.

  • 07:20

    C'mon, the longtime language nerds out there saw this coming.

  • 07:23

    Welcome to the world of evidentials.

  • 07:27

    So many languages give you a way to encode the evidence you have for what you're saying.

  • 07:33

    These can include markers for auditory evidence, visual evidence, indirect inference,

  • 07:39

    or quoted hearsay.

  • 07:41

    In the Sherpa language, evidentials tell you whether the person speaking witnessed the

  • 07:46

    event they're talking about.

  • 07:48

    This is a stretch for English, but let's get crafty and try.

  • 07:53

    The patio's wet and you infer it rained.

  • 07:57

    You were there when it was raining.

  • 08:01

    And if you're into this, there's someone else you should be listening to.

  • 08:05

    Ok, look English, you're unusual.

  • 08:08

    Be happy being you.

  • 08:10

    But if you're feeling it why not try out some of these awesome features you don't have.

  • 08:15

    Also, what about the opposite, the things you do have but other languages don't?

  • 08:22

    Hmm, says he, maybe someone should animate that...

  • 08:26

    Thanks for watching.

  • 08:28

    This was fun.

  • 08:29

    I leaned a lot on WALS for maps and data.

  • 08:32

    As usual, dig into my sources doc for more, though recognize this one was about sparking

  • 08:36

    interest and not proving points.

  • 08:38

    With my patrons supporting me, I am hard at work on a more epic history, too.

  • 08:43

    Meanwhile, thanks for letting me get a bit playful.

  • 08:46

    Stick around and subscribe for language!

All

The example sentences of HONORIFIC in videos (6 in total of 6)

from preposition or subordinating conjunction intimate adjective to to high adjective honorific adjective , and coordinating conjunction marathi proper noun, singular even adverb has verb, 3rd person singular present one cardinal number for preposition or subordinating conjunction when wh-adverb you personal pronoun meet verb, non-3rd person singular present a determiner stranger noun, singular or mass
the determiner same adjective pronunciation noun, singular or mass that wh-determiner is verb, 3rd person singular present the determiner honorific adjective term noun, singular or mass for preposition or subordinating conjunction a determiner person noun, singular or mass 's possessive ending house noun, singular or mass but coordinating conjunction is verb, 3rd person singular present used verb, past participle metaphorically adverb
the determiner most adverb, superlative commonly adverb used verb, past participle prefix noun, singular or mass in preposition or subordinating conjunction japanese proper noun, singular , proper noun, singular o proper noun, singular - , is verb, 3rd person singular present used verb, past participle as preposition or subordinating conjunction part noun, singular or mass of preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner honorific adjective system noun, singular or mass
this determiner is verb, 3rd person singular present an determiner honorific adjective acclamation noun, singular or mass known verb, past participle to to being verb, gerund or present participle used verb, past participle by preposition or subordinating conjunction those determiner at preposition or subordinating conjunction that determiner time noun, singular or mass in preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner end noun, singular or mass of preposition or subordinating conjunction the determiner
and coordinating conjunction how wh-adverb little adjective it personal pronoun changed verb, past tense despite preposition or subordinating conjunction how wh-adverb often adverb it personal pronoun appeared verb, past tense - - suggested verb, past tense that preposition or subordinating conjunction it personal pronoun must modal an determiner honorific adjective
decided verb, past tense that preposition or subordinating conjunction he personal pronoun did verb, past tense n't adverb want verb, base form his possessive pronoun title noun, singular or mass to to be verb, base form merely adverb honorific adjective so adverb once preposition or subordinating conjunction matters noun, plural were verb, past tense settled verb, past participle in preposition or subordinating conjunction england noun, singular or mass

Use "honorific" in a sentence | "honorific" example sentences

How to use "honorific" in a sentence?

  • The visible imperfections of hand-wrought goods, being honorific, are accounted marks of superiority in point of beauty, or serviceability, or both.
    -Thorstein Veblen-
  • I do not give the honorific name of 'poetry' to the primitive and the unaccomplished.
    -Helen Vendler-

Definition and meaning of HONORIFIC

What does "honorific mean?"

/ˌänəˈrifik/

adjective
given as mark of respect, but having few or no duties.
noun
title or word implying or expressing respect.