Cultural Post #2

[Zachary Stewart]

            With regards to formality and informality, Turkish reminds me of some of the romance languages that I have studied because there are pronouns and conjugations that are involved with formality. For example, the pronoun sen and the corresponding verb conjugations are utilized in familiar contexts while the pronoun siz and the corresponding verb conjugations are used in more formal contexts. An example of this in context would be saying nasılsın (sen) to a friend and nasılsınız (siz) to a professor. They both mean “how are you” but the conjugation changes depending on the register. This seemed to be the overarching aspect of formality and informality in the language. One could also say ‘mister’ or ‘misses’ by saying bey or hanım after someone’s name. Stewart bey, for example, means Mr. Stewart.