摘 要

称谓语是说话者用来称呼与其说话的人的语言，它在人们的日常生活中占据着不可或缺的位置。中西方之间由于地域及文化的差异，导致汉英社会称谓系统存在着很大的差异。随着社会的不断发展，中西方之间的交流与合作也越来越密切，在跨文化交际的过程中，若不了解对方称谓语的使用习惯，就会造成语用失误，给双方交际带来极大的不便。因此本文将从跨文化的角度出发，研究中西方称谓语的差异，并就跨文化交际中常出现的语用失误给出个人建议。

本文主要分为三个部分，第一部分简要回顾了国内外学者在这一领域所取得的成就并介绍了本文的研究目的及研究背景。在第二部分中，首先给出了社会称谓语的定义。接着研究了影响称谓语选择的主要因素并将这些因素归为两大类：外部因素和个人因素。其次对中西方社会称谓语进行了对比并分析了导致差异的原因。除此之外，本文还分析了跨文化交际中出现的问题，针对这些问题给出了适当的解决方法。最后一个部分是总结。

关键词：称谓语；社会称谓语；跨文化交际；对比研究

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2.Demonstration 2

2.1 The Definition of Address Terms and Social Address Terms 3

2.2 The Functions of Social Address Terms 3

2. 2.1 Emotional Indicator 3

2.2.2 Characteristic Indicator 4

2.2.3 Interpersonal Relationship Indicator 4

2.3 Factors Influencing the Choice of Social Address Terms 4

2.3.1 Outer Factors 5

2.3.1.1 Context 5

2.3.1.2 Social Status 5

2.3.2 Individual Factors 5

2.3.2.1 Emotion 5

2.3.2.2 Psychology 6

2.3.2.3 Age 6

2.3.2.4 Gender 6

2.4 Comparison Between Chinese Social Address Terms and Western Social Address Terms 7

2.4.1 Similarities 7

2.4.2 Dissimilarities 7

2.4.2.1 Different Formation Rules 7

2.4.2.2 Different Usage of Names 8

2.4.2.3 Different Fictive Kinship Terms 8

2.4.2.4 Unique Chinese Social Address Terms 9

2.5 Causes for the Differences 9

2.5.1 Different Historical Origin (feudalism VS Capitalism) 9

2.5.2 Different value orientation (Collectivism VS Individualism) 10

2.5.3 Different Power Distance ( High-Power-Distance VS Low-Power-Distance)....................................................................................10

2.6 Problems and suggestions 11

2.6.1 Lack of knowledge about target culture 11

2.6.2 Interference of Mother Tongue 12

2.6.3 Suggestions 12

3. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

Bibliography 15

A Study of Social Address Terms From The Perspective of Cross-cultural Interactions

1. Introduction

Address terms plays an indispensable role in our daily life. Different address terms could reflect the differences of communicator’s social status, social relationship, gender...etc. Though Chinese and Western address terms originate from different language systems, there exist similarities as well as dissimilarities between them. When people who share common culture background meet with each other, it will be quite easier for them to address other in a suitable way, while for those who come from different countries, there will appear an embarrassing situation in which they don’t know how to address each other properly. In order to get rid of that embarrassing situation and avoid mistakes appeared in cross-cultural interactions, it is of great value to discuss the proper use of address terms.

With the rapid development of linguistics, how to use address terms appropriately has become a hot spot and draws great attention from both domestic and foreign experts. In the west, the study of address terms can be traced back to 1960s. In 1960, Linguist Brown and Gilman studied the use of second person pronouns. Their study showed that pronoun usage was governed by two semantics, which they called power and solidarity.(Wang 2008). When pronouns are exchanged reciprocally, solidarity between participants is stressed, whereas nonreciprocal usage reflects an unequal power relationship (Brown and Gilman 1960). Then it comes to Brown and Ford. They analyzed the address terms in America English and found that the choice of address terms in America English was not only restricted by semantic relations of power and solidarity, but also determined by age, position, and gender of both sides (Fasold 2000). In 1970s, Ervin-Tripp studied American address terms system by using a computer flow chart format and presented the appellation system as a series of choices. According to her model, if a speaker is not familiar with the addressee, then the first name will be used. If the addressee is of higher rank, the age factor will not be taken into account. (Wang 2008). She divided America English address system into three kinds of semantic modes. The first is the mutual exchange of first name; the second is the mutual exchange of title last name; the last is the nonreciprocal pattern.

The study of address terms has also received considerable attention in China. In ancient China, there occurred many books involving address terms. Before Christ, a book named Erya·Shiqin (《尔雅·释亲》） systematically recorded address terms in feudal family. Then it comes to modern times, Zhao Yuanren (Zhao 1956) wrote an article entitled Chinese Terms of Address, in which he gives a vivid description of Chinese address terms, especially some new appellation forms and their meanings after liberation of China. Zhu Wanjin designed a flowchart of Chinese address system in her book according to Ervin-Tripp’s method. In Tian Huigang's book, he made a study on address terms not only in Chinese but also in English. According to his research, address terms can be divided into five sub-systems: kin term system, social appellation system, system for references to person’s names, pronominal appellation system and polite appellation system(Tian 1998).

The researches on address terms are rich and abundant throughout history. However, most of the studies focus on discussing the usage of kinship address terms, which has gained great achievements, while the researches of social address terms are relatively fewer, so this essay will focus on social address terms and analyze the differences about it between China and West. What’s more, with the continuous development of globalization, there are more and more communication and cooperation between China and Western countries. According to some researches, misunderstandings often occur in cross-cultural communication due to the fact that people from different countries are not clear about the proper way they address each other. In order to help foreign language learners carry effective verbal communication, this thesis will focus on the differences of social address terms between Chinese and western countries, the problems caused by those differences and their solutions.

2. Demonstration