An Analysis Of The Influencing Factors Of Address Terms In Midnight From The Perspective Of Politeness Theories

Address terms, as the important communicative components, are of great significance to the communication of people’s daily life. It is an important research direction of sociolinguistics and pragmatics favored by linguists. The impression between the addresser and the addressee will be enhanced if they use address terms appropriately.However, an inappropriate usage of address terms will lead to unhappiness even misunderstandings. So far, scholars at home and abroad have researched some aspects of address terms such as definition, classification and influencing factors, and have conducted some researches on address system as a whole. However, most of the studies are diachronic researches, and synchronic researches are rare.This study tries to answer the following questions: What are the classifications of address terms in Midnight? What are the main factors influencing the choices of address terms? How to reduce the factors that cause the improper usages of address terms? How does the study of previous address terms are still important until nowadays? This study is a real reflection of the life situation at 1930s’ Shanghai(even the whole China) based on the novel Midnight. In addition, analysis of classifications and factors influencing the choices of different address terms also involved in this study based on politeness theories and moderate context theory. Therefore, the research can make people better understand the address terms of 1930 s.Based on the above mentioned researches, it is concluded that different kinds of address terms have their different characteristics and usages. There are numerous factors affecting the choices of address terms, such as culture, status, age, gender and the addresser’s mood. Therefore, it is of vital practical significance to choose address terms correctly and reduce the improper usages of them based on the theories of politeness. The study of the functions of address terms shows great realistic significance. In addition,reducing the improper usages of address terms can promote successful communication.