What is familiarity?

Definition
	Familiarity is a kind of social deixis that expresses a high degree of solidarity between the speaker and addressee.

Examples (French, German)

Some uses of the second-person pronouns tu in French and du in German signal familiarity.

Source:

Hartmann and Stork 1972 83

Concept module: familiarity
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): F
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004