Politeness in the Yoruba and French Languages

The concept of politeness is a universal concept which operation or manifestation varies according to the varying cultures and beliefs of people all over the world. Interestingly, many languages that do not belong to the same language family nor situated in the same continent are found to have something in common in the way they express politeness in their culture. Such is the case with the Yoruba and French languages, which, in spite of their differences, manifest similarity in their culture of politeness. This work gives an insight into the similarities and differences that exist in the politeness cultures of the Yoruba and French languages, with particular focus on the use of honorific pronouns. Both languages make use of honorific pronouns to express politeness. However, while the French language has just one honorific pronoun, vous, the Yoruba language has four honorific pronouns, ?h , Y?nh, W??nh, and W?nh.