A Comparative Study Of Address Forms From A Cross-cultural Perspective

This paper presents a comparative study of social address forms in both English and Chinese languages in the student community. Based on the findings, this thesis has analyzed the variants of address forms and their pragmatic functions in both languages, and it is therefore a qualitative study of address forms from pragmatic and sociolinguistic perspectives.The present study is made up of seven chapters. Chapter One serves as an introduction to the definition and classification of address forms as well as the scope of the present study. Chapter Two is a review of the study on address forms both inside and outside China and the significance of the present study. Chapter Three outlines the theoretical framework from sociolinguistic, pragmatic and communicative-competence-oriented perspectives. Chapter Four involves two experiments under English and Chinese circumstances: the English experiment was conducted in Oregon State University and Portland Community College on the basis of questionnaires, while the Chinese experiment was carried out among native Chinese speakers, who are non-English majors in Northwest Normal University in China. Another part of the Chinese experiment was also conducted among the English majors of native Chinese speakers. Chapter Five deals with data collection and analysis. In this chapter, some variants and pragmatic functions of address forms are reflected through analysis of the data both in English and Chinese languages. Chapter Six is the general discussion of the similarities and dissimilarities in linguistic forms and pragmatic functions between English and Chinese address forms. Also a phenomenon of pragmatic failure is found among the English majors and English learners in China. Finally an extended use of laoshi is discussed as well which has been in popular practice in Chinese address forms especially among people of the field of art. Chapter Seven comes to the natural conclusions of the study: (1) There are some similarities and differences existing between English and Chinese socialaddress forms in student community.(2) Factors which influence the choice of address forms (age, gender, occasion or rank) are different in both English and Chinese languages.(3) In the Chinese address system, there is a very apparent phenomenon of pragmatic failure among the English majors or English learners which calls for the English teachers to do something in their future teaching.(4) There is a typical case of the extended use of laoshi, while its English counterpart remains unchanged or hasn't changed.The paper finally comes to another conclusion: in order to achieve meaningful and successful communication cross-culturally, one has to acquire both linguistic and sociolinguistic competence which also has great importance to the profession of TESOL or ESL teachers.