I'm always amazed at the different ways you can say the same thing in Tibetan. Sometimes you really are saying the same thing but, more often than not, there are subtle connotative differences attached to the expression you choose. The second person pronoun is one of these very words and can even have different regional understandings.
Khyed is technically honorific (zhe sa) but this doesn't seem to be so strict and is used across the board.
Sku nyid is used to be explicit about your honorifics. I feel that there must be other high honorifics but I can't think of any others. If you know some please post them in the comment section!
Khyod is the baseline second person pronoun. However, in Lhasa/central dialects it carries a pejorative connotation and rang is used instead between acquaintances.
A few centralers and even westerners have called me on using khyod but I always respond that khyed is zhe sa and we are friends who don't need any pretense. Haha! Once I told my teacher that I'd use zhe sa to the extent of my knowledge on him but he need not use it for me. He claimed that the Buddha used honorifics with his disciple so what's the matter if he uses them on me. I haven't found any scriptural sources for this (although I don't doubt the exists) but I did find the opposite.
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་རྣམས་ནི་ཤིན་ཏུ་དྭངས།
Oh Blessed One, your (khyod) faculties are extremely clear!
A variation on khyod has emerged in the Amdo dialects. The postscript da was elided over time (due to what reason I'm not sure) and is now being written as khyo. This is not only happening among the uneducated but by those literati trying to make a point (to give their writing a colloquial flavor; to show pride for the regional background; to demonstrate the richness of the folk tradition or kha skad rgyu rtsal; etc.). What is neat about this new form is that it can be combine with an agentive particle (khyos) or with a genetive particle (khyo'i).
Khyed is technically honorific (zhe sa) but this doesn't seem to be so strict and is used across the board.
Sku nyid is used to be explicit about your honorifics. I feel that there must be other high honorifics but I can't think of any others. If you know some please post them in the comment section!
Khyod is the baseline second person pronoun. However, in Lhasa/central dialects it carries a pejorative connotation and rang is used instead between acquaintances.
A few centralers and even westerners have called me on using khyod but I always respond that khyed is zhe sa and we are friends who don't need any pretense. Haha! Once I told my teacher that I'd use zhe sa to the extent of my knowledge on him but he need not use it for me. He claimed that the Buddha used honorifics with his disciple so what's the matter if he uses them on me. I haven't found any scriptural sources for this (although I don't doubt the exists) but I did find the opposite.
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་རྣམས་ནི་ཤིན་ཏུ་དྭངས།
Oh Blessed One, your (khyod) faculties are extremely clear!
A variation on khyod has emerged in the Amdo dialects. The postscript da was elided over time (due to what reason I'm not sure) and is now being written as khyo. This is not only happening among the uneducated but by those literati trying to make a point (to give their writing a colloquial flavor; to show pride for the regional background; to demonstrate the richness of the folk tradition or kha skad rgyu rtsal; etc.). What is neat about this new form is that it can be combine with an agentive particle (khyos) or with a genetive particle (khyo'i).
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