The Usage Distinction between T and V Forms of Second Person Singular Pronouns in Some European Languages: A Contrastive Research into the Translations of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone'

This article researches the usage distinction between T/V forms of the second person singular pronoun in some European languages by means of the analysis of the translations of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Pilosopher’s Stone”. The researched languages are Dutch, German, Luxembourgish, Russian, and French. The main fi ndings of this research are as follows. As expected, the V form is likely to be used in the remarks of inferiors to superiors, and between strangers, while the T form is likely to be used in the remarks of superiors to inferiors, between family members, and between pupils or mates. Of the remarks in which the T/V usage differs among languages the V form is used most frequently in French, while the T form is used most frequently in Dutch. The other three languages take the middle position and resemble each other in the number of T/V forms used. The characteristic usage of French V form is seen in some of the remarks to which Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds of the school, participates as a speaker or an addressee. As opposed to other languages in which Hagrid is spoken to with the T form even by pupils, he speaks or is spoken to with the V form in French except for a few exceptions. The status difference is a more important factor in the T/V distinction of French than in other languages. The characteristic usage of Dutch T form is seen in some of the remarks of superiors to inferiors. In Dutch the T form is used even in the remarks of professors to pupils and between colleagues in which the V form is used in other languages. It can be said that informality is preferred in wider range of situations in Dutch than in other languages.