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status, like they already are in many languages
What languages base their pronouns on status? I'd like to read about them.
In my native Czech we use plural when addressing strangers or people with a higher standing. Singular pronouns are a lot more informal, used betwen friends and family. French and German have something similar.
Actually, English does the same, except the uncouth singular has been dropped and now the formal address is the only choice. The informal, singular version of "you" is "thou".
You can read more about it here
Spanish is one. Western Hemisphere Spanish has different second-person singular pronouns depending on relative status / formality / familiarity. One uses "tu" for inferiors, intimates, and children, and "usted" for superiors and respected strangers. Spain does as well, but they also have variants for second person plural pronouns.
Japanese does this, and doesn't half-ass it either! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronouns_in_Japanese#List_of_Japanese_personal_pronouns
Hell, Japanese essentially has entire modes of speaking just to be polite, with whole sets of pronouns, verbs and speaking style. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese
Incidentally, from a Euro perspective, tons of "our" languages, and formerly English (thou/thee) have what is called a t-v distinction, named after Latin "you" (tu/vi) which depends on status much like "usted" in Spanish. There's a list of languages which do this.
Just to be clear, the Wikipedia list is simply trying to be exhaustive and points out which ones are a matter of dialect and what's just an archaic form. Think of it like a list that includes you, ye, ya, y'all, u, thou. Those are not different pronouns - it's the same word with variations for regions, time periods, medium. Don't take "you can just write 'u' when you are writing on an electronic device" as a formal rule.
Japanese for example. Pronouns like he (kare 彼) or she (kanojo 彼女) aren't used as frequently as in English or many other western languages. Usually it is familyname + status-suffix.
For example: Smith-San(さん) -> Mr/Mrs Smith
Tanaka-Sama(様) -> Very respectful form of adress
Aoyama-Sensei(先生) -> Teacher/Doctor/Artist
To any native/professional speaker: correct me if I'm wrong.
The latter three (~さん・様・先生) aren't really pronouns, though. Sensei can technically function as such when we already know which one is being discussed, but you would never use the other two on their own. These are titles/honorifics.
彼・彼女 are pronounce. We also have others こいつ・あいつ・and basically whateverqualifier人 (あの人・その人).
Vietnamese uses both status and gender. For example, there are different terms associated with older brother (anh) or sister (chi) vs younger siblings (em). You generally wouldn't use any of those terms to address someone older than your generation, as there are more respectful pronouns you would use.
Excuse me, is this sir's suitcase? Can I help sir with this?
Replace with ma'am, master, etc
In many languages the plural form is used similarly. In my native danish it's "De" vs "du" (De is always written with a capital letter)