Dunna du me!

Shaetlan haes twa pronominal address forms: du an you. Baith translates tae StE 'you'. Da first form (du) is onn'y øsed tae spaek aboot ee body (singular addressee) whaaras da siccint form form (you) is øsed as shün as de'r mair as ee addressee. StE is parteeklarly rare in dat it doesna shaa der bein ony odds atween singular an plural addressees: onn'y aboot 7% o da wirld's languages haes da sam form fir du an you.

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Hoosumivver, da Shaetlan addressee forms haes a politeness distinction firbye: du is da hame-aboot form fir a singular addressee (øsed wi freends, bridders an sisters, bairns, etc.) whaaras you is da polite form fir a singular addressee (øsed wi fokk aalder as you, unkan fokk, in formal situations, etc). StE haes nae politeness distinctions, so you is øsed aawye an tae ony addressee (een or twartree, hame-aboot or no). Da wye at some fokk øses du fir ony singular addressee in Shaetlan (whidder d'ir fameeliar or no) in a wye maks Shaetlan structure mair laek StE. As weel as dat, øsin du wi fokk aalder as you can be taen as bein rude. In linguistics dis is caaed "pattren replication": da form maebbi looks no tae be da sam (laek Shaetlan du vs StE you), but in fact it's copyin da grammar o StE an taks it awa fae whit Shaetlan grammar wis ey wint tae be.

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Pictirs: Julie Dennison (@juliedennison).