Resumen de The use and abuse of singular and plural address forms in Estonian

Leelo Keevallik

• This article gives an overview of the Estonian usage ofpronouns and verb endings äs address forms in the case of a single addressee. A t present, competence in Estonian involves the ability to use two options: Singular and plural. They mainly indicate the degree of social distance and situational formality but there is much Variation in the usage since several biological, social, and contextual parameters have to be taken into consideration.

  Furthermore, the choice of the form may even define the whole relationship or activity at hand. Because of the loaded meaning of these address forms there is sometimes a pressure to find an alternative, resulting in what are described äs avoidance strategies in thispaper. On the other hand, ifused in a marked way, the pronominal or suffixal address forms may express Insult, sarcasm, irony, etc.; they may degrade the interlocutor, or merely be used for a comic effect. In other words, the Singular jplural dichotomy endows the Speakers with a ränge of Strategie opportunities. The data for the present study come from a questionnaire, carried out during 1995-1996 among children and adolescents in different parts of Estonia.