The way in which people address one another is crucial to expressing social relationships and is closely linked with cultural values. In English we call some people by their first names, and others ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’, followed by their surname. In some other languages there are different ways of saying ‘you’ depending on the degree of social distance. Exploring practices in the family, school, university, the workplace and in letters, this book reveals patterns in the varied ways people choose to address one another, from pronouns to first names, from honorifics to titles and last names. Examples are taken from contemporary English, French, German and Swedish, using rich data from focus group research, interviews, chat groups, and participant observation.
• A revealing investigation into the different ways people choose to address each other • Data is derived from multiple sources, such as focus groups, interviews and participant observation • Explores address practices in a variety of situations including the family, school and the workplace
Contents
1. Introduction;
2. Multiple approaches for a complex issue;
3. Contextualising address choice;
4. Institutions, domains and medium;
5. National variation;
6. Conclusions.
