A Comparative Study On Chinese And English General Honorific Titles

The social addressing system is a sub-system of address forms, and it plays an indispensable part in the social contacts. In the social addressing system,the general honorific titles is the core part, which is most widely used whether in Chinese or in English. For the better understanding of the correct use of the general honorific titles in Chinese and English and of the culture beind it, the thesis is engaged in the study on the general honorific titles by employing the method of comparative study, choosing some Chinese widely-used general honorific titles, such as xiansheng, xiaojie,furenltaitai and their counterparts Mr., sir, Miss, Mrs and lady, etc.The thesis consists of four parts. In the first part, it focuses on the history of the formation of the general honorific titles both in Chinese and in English. Then in the second part, which is the core part of the thesis, it explores the meanings of words and pragmatic use of the general honorific titles. In the semantic study, it conducts the retrospective study on the meanings of the general honorific titles respectively. At the same time, in order to pin down the connotation and denotation of the meaning of the address forms under discussion, it analyzes the degree of similarity in the meaning of the general honorific titles in both languages.In the pragmatic use study, except for the study of the usage patterns of the general honorific titles, it employs the theories of sociolinguistics of language to make a study of the pragmative use of the general honorific titles in the real context. Finally, the thesis opens a new horizon beyond language itself by connecting language with culture, telling the differences between Chinese and English terms of address under the influence of different culture.Through the above four parts, the thesis carries researches on Chinese and English general honorific titles, aiming at pinning down the difference between Chinese and English general honorific titles, helping people to choose correct and appropriate address forms in intercultural communication, lubricating the communication process, so as to achieve successful communication.