Current address behaviour in China

Authors

  • Ziran He Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
  • Wei Ren Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537

Keywords:

address terms, online communication, politeness, globalisation, Chinese

Abstract

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.

Author Biographies

  • Ziran He, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

    Ziran He is Professor of Pragmatics at the National Key Research Center for Linguistics & Applied Linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. He is the founder and the honorary president of China Pragmatics Association. He has published approximately 200 papers and 10 books. He served as editorial board member for Journal of Pragmatics, Intercultural Pragmatics, and Pragmatics. He also acts as a member of the editorial board for East Asian Pragmatics.

  • Wei Ren, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

    Wei Ren is currently Professor of Applied Linguistics at the National Key Research Center for Linguistics & Applied Linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. He also serves as an editorial member for International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and East Asian Pragmatics. His research interests include L2 Pragmatics, Cross-Cultural Pragmatics, and Pragmatics in English as a Lingua Franca Communication. His recent publications include a monograph L2 Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad Contexts (Peter Lang) and articles in Applied Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, ELT Journal, Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics, and System.

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Published

2016-11-11

Issue

Section

Articles

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