This study aims to solve the following three questions: 

1) What are the differences of address forms between English and Japanese？

2) What social and cultural factors lead to these differences？ 

3) What role does politeness play in the address form of English and Japanese？

1。3 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis is pided into six parts。

Chapter one provides an introduction to address forms and discusses the objectives and organization of this study。

Chapter two illustrates the literary reviews of address forms on west and China。来自优Y尔L论W文Q网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ7520~18766

Chapter three states the theoretical bases on language, culture and communication。 It reviews Brown & Levison’s face theory and Leech’s polite principle。

Chapter four compares and contrasts the addressing in English and Japanese languages。 

Chapter five analyzes the cultural differences that affect the different use of English and Japanese forms of address from the aspect of histories, religions, and pursuits of social values。

The final chapter is the conclusion about the major findings and the significances in the essay。 Also this paper is far from exhaustive in address forms between English and Japanese, and further study is needed。

2。 Literature Review

Many western scholars have discussed the relationship among address forms, politeness, and culture。 Generally speaking, address behavior is governed by politeness phenomenon, and people usually choose a particular address form out of politeness to each other。 Therefore, it is necessary to review and discuss the relevant politeness theories in order to make essential foreshadowing for the following study。 And also, study on address forms by western scholars can be traced back to the 1950s。 To date, there are many outstanding and typical researches on address forms by the western scholars。 

2。1。 Studies of address forms in the West

2。1。1 Power and solidarity theory

Brown and Gilman’s Power and Solidarity theory (1960) has been regarded as “the most classic and influential study of address forms” (Fasold 1990)。 Brown and Gilman are regarded as the originator of modern sociolinguistic investigation of address forms。 They investigate two symbols in the paper -- “T” as the “familiar” pronoun, and “V” as the “polite” pronoun。 They propose that pronoun usage is governed by two factors, which they call “power” and “solidarity”。 

Power is closely related to one’s social status, family position, age, gender, education, and achievement, etc。 A person who has more power than others can control the other’s behavior by using language。 For instance, the situation takes place when the less powerful person speaks the form of Vous, indicating the politeness in French, to the more powerful interlocutors。 By contrast, they are expected to receive the form of Tu from powerful interlocutors。 In general, older people are assumed to have power over younger people, parents over children, teachers over students, employers over employees, aristocrats over farmers, military officers over privates。 

However not all differences between people are related to power。 Solidarity implies a sharing, a degree of closeness and intimacy between people。 Solidarity concerns the social characteristics people share (such as religion, sex, age, region of origin, race, occupation, interests, etc。), how far people are prepared to share intimacies, and other factors。 In this connection, “solidarity” refers to the equal and the desires for sharing and close。 Brown and Gilman (1960) pointed out that the dimension of solidarity has won over that of power。 And the ranges of solidarity also expand more broadly。 This is true in western countries。 But in eastern Asian societies power is still a dominating dimension。 Solidarity has not gotten its supremacy。 In Japan, for example, seniority, which is one expression of power, is greatly valued and emphasized。