Situated Speech
“Many languages also have a complex system of honorifics which requires that speakers situate themselves in social space in relationship to the person addressed. That is, the speaker will choose among as many as a dozen or more words or suffixes or tones to add to the utterance, and with that choice he or she will indicate the degree of respect (based on age, profession, kinship or other factors), friendship, or lack of respect felt toward the other person. In Thailand, young teenage girls—socially very low in the scheme of things—routinely end their sentences with the tag I, little rat.”
-English with an Accent; Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States
