4。2。1 Social titles 10

4。2。2 Occupational titles 11

4。3 Personal pronouns 12

4。4 Proper names 13

4。4。1 First name 13

4。4。2 Last name 14

4。4。3 Full name 14

5。 Socio-Cultural Causes for the Difference on Address Forms between English and Japanese 16

5。1 Different Histories 16

5。2 Different Religions 16

5。3 Different pursuits of social values 17

6。 Conclusion 19

6。1 Major findings 19

6。2 Significances 19

6。3 Limitations and Further research 20

References 21

1。 Introduction

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What is address form? Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1975) defines address form as the correct name or title that speakers use to call others and to draw the hearer’s attention in communications。 Ralph Fasold (1994) indicated address forms are words the interlocutor utilizes to designate persons they are talking to while making a conversation。 And Fasold (2000) further points out that “when people need to use language, they would do more than just try to get the hearers to understand the speaker’s thoughts and feelings。 Meanwhile, people often use different address forms to define their relationship between interlocutors and to identify themselves’ social class。” Address behavior serves not only as a means of attracting the attention of the hearer, but also as an indication of social relations between the speaker and the hearer (Brown & Gilman 1960)。 From this we can see that address form used in the context plays an important role on identifying the status manner of the interlocutor。 And it is an indispensable part of communication in our daily life。

As language is a key part in a culture, address form as a language form can also be taken as the carrier of culture。 Thus, how to choose the proper address forms is important in intercultural communication。 Brend (1978) pointed out that cultural anthropologists have long been aware of differences across language of forms of address and references。 For example, it is necessary for the foreigner or newcomer to master the correct address forms when he comes to a new community。 Appropriate address behavior is crucial for effective communication and successful maintenance of interpersonal relationships。 In addition, different countries have different culture, also, every culture has its own particular address forms。 Address form is one of markers of politeness and is an indispensable part of communication。 An appropriate address form promotes interpersonal communication smoothly。 An address form is polite in one culture, but might be inappropriate in another culture。

1。2 The Objectives of the Study

This paper attempts to find the differences of address forms in English (mainly American English) and Japanese, and finally try to explore the reasons for the differences from the social cultural perspective。

According to different standards, address forms can be pided into different categories。 In this essay, the writer would discuss from these five kinds of address forms, including (1) kinship terms: the titles mainly used to address the family members。 (2) the social titles: the titles which can be used in most social occasions, without referring to specific identity and status。 (3) the occupational titles, that may convey the addressee’s specific rank and status。 (4) personal pronouns, a pronoun (such as I, you, or they) that is used to refer to a specific person。 (5) personal names。 With the different cultures that exist among the English-speaking countries, and with the persity in languages and dialects, we can not study and compare all the address forms。 Therefore, the thesis will limit its study mainly to American English and American culture。