In this blog post I will discuss formality and informality in Sanskrit.
Sanskrit is a unique language to learn since it is taught in a formal context with very structured grammar. I am not diving into the vernacular of spoken word since my main goal is to understand Sanskrit as it is written traditionally. I have not been able to find a large amount of information on written Sanskrit and the role of honorifics. I have found the role of pronouns very interesting and confusing! Most of the time a pronoun isn't directly needed since it is built into the verb ending as an inflection. Consider the following sentences and the English translation:
gacchaami --> I go.
gacchamah --> We go.
gacchaavah --> The two of us go.
gacchati --> He goes.
etc.
First and second person pronouns do not mark for gender, and an independent third person pronoun doesn't really exist since it is always built into the verb, and also does not account for gender. The words for "that" or "it" are still there though if needed.
There is a kind of polite prounoun/title, "bhavant" which means directly "your honor". It seems like this mostly acts as a 2nd person polite pronoun. It will be interesting to see if I run into any honorifics while furthering my reading skills.
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