Current address behaviour in China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537Keywords:
address terms, online communication, politeness, globalisation, ChineseAbstract
The way in which people address each other is crucial for expressing interpersonal relationships and is closely linked with cultural values. Address terms are pragmatically important, especially in languages that do not express sociopragmatic values through pronouns such as Chinese. Due to the rapid change of sociocultural values and the advancement of globalisation and new technologies, many Chinese address terms are falling out of use, and new terms are emerging and prevailing in people’s use. However, many landmark studies on Chinese address terms are no longer up-to-date. This article investigates the current use of address terms in Mainland China. Four categories of Chinese address terms are analysed: obsolete terms with restricted uses, revived negative politeness forms with semantic shifts, emergent new address terms, and address terms adopted from online communication. The article then discusses factors that may influence people selecting address terms and factors affecting the changes of address terms in Chinese.
References
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Nevalainen, T., & Raumolin-Brunberg, H. (1995). Constraints on politeness: The pragmatics of address formulae in early English correspondence. In A. H. Jucker (Ed.), Historical pragmatics: Pragmatic developments in the history of English (pp. 541–601). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.35.28nev
Packard, J. L. (2000). The morphology of Chinese: A linguistic and cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486821
Pan, Y., & Kadar, D. Z. (2011a). Politeness in historical and contemporary Chinese. London: Continuum.
Pan, Y., & Kadar, D. Z. (2011b). Historical vs. contemporary Chinese linguistic politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1525–1539. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018
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Scotton, C. M., & Zhu, W. (1983). Tongzhi in China: Language change and its conversational consequences. Language in Society, 12, 477–494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500010204
Sifianou, M. (2013). The impact of globalisation on politeness and impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 86–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016
Watts, R. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615184
Wong, A. (2005). The reappropriation of tongzhi. Language in Society, 34(5), 763–793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404505050281
Wu, Y. (1990). The usages of kinship address forms amongst non-kin in Mandarin Chinese: The extension of family solidarity. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10, 61–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07268609008599432
Zhu, H. (2010). Language socialization and interculturality: Address terms in intergenerational talk in Chinese diasporic families. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(3), 189–205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14708470903348531
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, R., & Ford, M. (1961). Address in American English. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62(2), 375–385. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0042862
Brown, R., & Gilman, A. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in language (pp. 253–276). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Brown, R., & Gilman, A. (1989). Politeness theory and Shakespeare’s four major tragedies. Language in Society, 18, 159–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500013464
Cameron, D. (2007). Redefining rudeness. In M. Gorji (Ed.), Rude Britannia (pp. 127–138). London: Routledge.
Chao, Y. (1956). Chinese terms of address. Language, 32(1), 217–241. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/410666
Clyne, M., Norrby, C., & Warren, J. (2009). Language and human relations: Styles of address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511576690
Clyne, M., Kretzenbacher, H.-L., Norrby, C., & Schupbach, D. (2006). Perceptions of variation and change in German and Swedish address. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 10(3),
Crystal, D. (2011). Internet linguistics: A student guide. London: Routledge.
de Lima, J. P. (1995). Pragmatic maxims in explanations of language change? In A. H. Jucker (Ed.), Historical pragmatics: Pragmatic developments in the history of English (pp.197–215). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.35.14pin
Ervin-Tripp, S. ([1972]1986). On sociolinguistic rules: Alternation and co-occurrence. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 213–250). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Fang, H., & Heng, J. H. (1983). Social changes and changing address norms in China. Language in Society, 12: 495–507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500010216
Gu, Y. (1990). Politeness phenomena in Modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 237–257. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90082-O
He, Z. (2012). Exploring pragmatics (expanded version ed.). Guangzhou: Jinan University Press.
Hu, F., & Hu, Y. (2000a). On semantic function and pragmatic constraints of ‘tongzhi’. Journal of East China Normal University, 32(3), 112–122.
Hu, Y., & Hu, F. (2000b). ‘Wang Ju’, ‘Zhang Chu’, ‘Li Ke’: Qianxi guanchang yizhong xin de chenghuyu de yuyi neihan ji yuyong tiaojian [A brief analysis of the semantics and the pragmatics of a new address term in official circles]. Rhetoric learning, 4, 10–11.
Jucker, A. H., & Taavitsainen, I. (2003). Diachronic perspectives on address term systems: Introduction. In I. Taavitsainen & A. H. Jucker (Eds.), Diachronic perspectives on address term systems (pp. 1-25). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.107.02juc
Kendall, M. B. (1981). Toward a semantic approach to terms of address: A critique of deterministic models in sociolinguistics. Language and Communication, 1(2/3), 237–254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(81)90014-8
Keshavarz, M. H. (2001). The role of social context, intimacy, and distance in the choice of forms of address. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 148, 5–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2001.015
Lee-Wong, S. M. (1994). Imperatives in requests: Direct or impolite – observations from Chinese. Pragmatics, 4(4), 491–515. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/prag.4.4.01lee
Leech, G. (2014). The pragmatics of politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341386.001.0001
Liu, Y. (2009). Determinants of stall-holders’ address forms to customers in Beijing’s lowstatus clothing markets. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 638–648. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.07.002
Luchkina, T. (2015). Social deixis in motion: The case of ‘COMRADE’ in Russian and Mandarin Chinese. In M. Terkourafi & S. Defibaugh (Eds.), Interdisciplinary perspectives on im/politeness (pp. 7–39). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/aals.14.02luc
Mazzon, G. (2010). Terms of address. In A. H. Jucker & I. Taavitsainen (Eds.), Historical pragmatics (pp. 351–376). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Nevalainen, T., & Raumolin-Brunberg, H. (1995). Constraints on politeness: The pragmatics of address formulae in early English correspondence. In A. H. Jucker (Ed.), Historical pragmatics: Pragmatic developments in the history of English (pp. 541–601). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.35.28nev
Packard, J. L. (2000). The morphology of Chinese: A linguistic and cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486821
Pan, Y., & Kadar, D. Z. (2011a). Politeness in historical and contemporary Chinese. London: Continuum.
Pan, Y., & Kadar, D. Z. (2011b). Historical vs. contemporary Chinese linguistic politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1525–1539. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018
Placencia, M. E. (2015). Address forms and relational work in E-commerce: The case of service encounter interactions in MercadoLibre Ecuador. In M. Hernandez-Lopez & L. Fernandez-Amaya (Eds.), A multidisciplinary approach to service encounters (pp. 37–64). Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004260160_004
Scotton, C. M., & Zhu, W. (1983). Tongzhi in China: Language change and its conversational consequences. Language in Society, 12, 477–494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500010204
Sifianou, M. (2013). The impact of globalisation on politeness and impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 86–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016
Watts, R. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615184
Wong, A. (2005). The reappropriation of tongzhi. Language in Society, 34(5), 763–793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404505050281
Wu, Y. (1990). The usages of kinship address forms amongst non-kin in Mandarin Chinese: The extension of family solidarity. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10, 61–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07268609008599432
Zhu, H. (2010). Language socialization and interculturality: Address terms in intergenerational talk in Chinese diasporic families. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(3), 189–205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14708470903348531
Published
2016-11-11
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How to Cite
He, Z., & Ren, W. (2016). Current address behaviour in China. East Asian Pragmatics, 1(2), 163-180. https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537
