Power And Solidarity Reflected In Chinese Address Forms

Address forms are the most frequently used expressions in communication. Their appropriateness is vital to the establishment and maintenance of sound interpersonal relationship, thus the study on address forms has absorbed extensive attention. Research in this topic has been done from perspectives of different disciplines such as ethnology, sociology, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics. The present study drew from insights in sociolinguistic and pragmatic studies to highlight the interest of inspecting address forms as indicators of interpersonal relationship and politeness markers. Through the analyses of all address forms in A Dream of Red Mansions, this study was intended to explore how power and solidarity influence Chinese addressing and how address forms function as politeness markers. The focus of this thesis was placed on how the characters in the novel address the others, and refer to themselves in polite ways, and in so doing intended to uncover the general rules regarding the choice of address forms in reflecting interpersonal relationships, and communicating politeness.The data for analyses were collected by exhaustive counting of the address forms in all the utterances in the first eighty chapters. Based on the politeness and emotion delivered within the scale of power and solidarity, the data were classified into polite terms (honorifics, and self-abasing terms) and impolite terms (haughty terms, abusive terms, and cursing terms) that mirror the power difference between speakers ; and the middle terms (endearing terms, teasing terms and plain terms) that boost solidarity. The realization of power and solidarity, and politeness strategies in self-address terms and forms of address to designate the hearer in face-to-face communication were discussed in detail.The results of data analyses and instances in the data suggest that determination of address forms is a rather complex process which is a result of different impacts of relevant factors. Though power and solidarity both function in affecting the choice of address forms, power plays dominant role in deciding Chinese address forms. Variables underlying power such as age, generation, social status, rank, and occupation exert different degrees of influence on the choice of address forms, among which social status, age, and generation are the major affecting factors. As politeness markers, address forms are closely related to politeness. Polite address forms like honorifics and self-abasing terms which create distance between the interlocutors realize negative politeness. Middle terms such as terms of endearment and teasing terms that boost solidarity reflect positive politeness.Although, literary language is not the same as that in real life, and the past decades have seen tremendous changes in address forms, for example, some of them have dropped out of use and some been replaced by new ones, the general rules of addressing is eternal. The present study is carried out with an aim to further the study on address forms by offering some suggestive implications for the study on Chinese addressing as well as some consultative value for real-life communication and language teaching.