The Contrast Analysis Of Address Terms In Chinese And American Social Context

Address terms are used while the speakers address the person they aretalking to while their negotiation and they are a primary part of humancommunication. Chinese and English address terms bear great differences inthat the differences of culture. In this paper, writer is going to give acomparative receach on Chinese and English address terms which is under itsown culture background.The thesis is constructed by five chapters, an introduction and a conclusion.The introduction is about the background, purpose, goals and the organizationof the thesis. In Chapter One, I put emphasis on the definition and theclassifications of the address term as well as the achievements have beenmade by the scholars in China and abroad. In Chapter Two, the theory ofpoliteness systems is replied to analyze the use of address terms in Chineseand America social context. Under the social context of China, the powerrelationship is the major relationship among people. So, the hierarchicalpoliteness system is on the dominant position while using the address terms.Under the social context of America, the solidarity politeness system hasbecome the dominant relationship among people. In Chapter Three, the writeris going to handle discussing the problems of culture background which havea great effect on address system under the circumstances of Chinese andEnglish separately. In Chapter Four, I am going to put forward my theory ofpoliteness strategy and analyze not only the similarities but also thedifferences between Chinese and English address terms by the theory ofpoliteness. Politeness theory will be my main theory in my research. InChapter Five, I discuss the problems in cross-cultural activities. Forexamples: communication, translation and teaching. Several individualsuggestions will also be given in this part. The last part is a summarizing.