Re-visiting honorification in Hindi and the discourse particle jii

Abstract

The ungrammaticality of the honorific particle jii following a plural suffix in Hindi nominals has previously motivated a formal analysis that structurally posits complementarity between semantic plurality and honorification in the language. We propose an alternative analysis that maintains distinct structural positions for discourse particle jii and a separate Hon(orific) Phrase (that is relevant for the verbal agreement system and other nominal modifiers) in Hindi, each with its own semantic import to the nominal meaning. This is supported by empirical evidence like honorific mismatch scenario and data where various pluralizing strategies can be adopted based on the presence or absence of discourse particle jii. We also propose that this discourse particle has its own idiosyncratic restriction of selecting a specific and a maximal nominal complement, that controls the environment within which it can occur. The core idea that this paper presents is that along with co-opting of plural morphology to express honorification in Hindi, this system is sensitive to the presence of honour-lending discourse marker jii and the variable valuation of Hon – that directly impacts the interpretation and may lead to extra semantic effects.