A Survey Of Address Forms And Their Changes In Yongdeng County Of Gansu Province

Address forms are the first massage conveyed from the speaker to the hearer to start a conversation. Address forms have been studied by western and Chinese scholars from different perspectives, such as sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cross-cultural communication. This study mainly makes a survey of the changes of address forms in Yongdeng County of Gansu Province and analyzes the reciprocal and nonreciprocal patterns of address forms in this area from a sociolinguistic perspective. The study is interested in exploring the reasons why some address forms have changed and what influence of society has had on language. Besides, the paper tries to explore the factors that influence the choices of reciprocal and nonreciprocal patterns of address forms. So the study of address forms and their changes has a great social significance.Methodologically speaking,the present study integrates both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Specifically, questionnaire and interview are employed. First, questionnaire and interview questions are designed. Then 452 parents or grandparents of the students in Chengguan Primary School, in Chengguan Junior Middle School and in Yongdeng No. 1 Senior Middle School are involved to respond to the questionnaires. The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect the data to study the changes of address forms in this area. At the same time, 36 teachers in Yongdeng No. 1 Senior Middle School are interviewed to collect data to analyze the choice of reciprocal and nonreciprocal patterns. Last, statistical data are tabled and analyzed.The study shows that the address forms for father, for parents-in-law, for spouse and for neighbors in parents'generation have changed. More and more people tend to use address forms in Mandarin Chinese, which is influenced by the development of education, the popularity of mass media, the movement of gender equality, the urbanization, the mass immigration movement and centralization of population. The choices of reciprocal and nonreciprocal patterns are influenced by three factors: familiarity, social status and age.The conclusion is that the unique address forms in this area are being gradually replaced by those in Mandarin Chinese. The choices of reciprocal and nonreciprocal patterns of address forms in this area are first determined by the degree of familiarity, and then by age and social status together.