Abstract

Address form is one of markers of politeness and is an indispensable part of communication. Proper address form will make the interpersonal communication go smoothly. There are different kinds of address forms in each language. An address form is polite in one culture, but might be inappropriate in another culture. 

This paper contributes to make a comparison of English and Japanese address forms in order to find the differences of address forms between these two languages. The comparison is based on the kingship term, titles, personal pronouns and proper names. Then the essay analyzes the main profound reason for the differences from the perspectives of historical, religion and cultures. At last, the paper is pertinent to answer the following three questions: 1) What are the differences of address forms between English and Japanese? 2) What social and cultural factors lead to these differences? 3) What role does politeness play in the address form of English and Japanese? The essay tries to help people to develop a better understanding of the meanings of the address forms, and facilitate cross-cultural communication by comparing the two languages.

Keyword: address form; English; Japanese; comparative study; socio-cultural perspective

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1. Setting-1

1.2 The Objectives of the Study-1

1.3 Organization of the Thesis-2

2. Literature Review-3

2.1. Studies of address forms in the West-3

2.1.1 Power and solidarity theory-3

2.1.2 Address forms in American English-3

2.2 Studies of address forms in China-4

3. Theoretical Bases-5

3.1 Face Theory by Brown and Levinson-5

3.2 Politeness Principle Theory by Leech-6

4. Contrastive Studies on Address Forms in English and Japanese-8

4.1 Kinship terms-8

4.1.1 Contrast between English and Japanese kinship terms-8

4.1.2 The generalization of kinship terms-9

4.2 Titles-10

4.2.1 Social titles-10

4.2.2 Occupational titles-11

4.3 Personal pronouns-12

4.4 Proper names-13

4.4.1 First name-13

4.4.2 Last name-14

4.4.3 Full name-14

5. Socio-Cultural Causes for the Difference on Address Forms between English and Japanese-16

5.1 Different Histories-16

5.2 Different Religions-16

5.3 Different pursuits of social values-17

6. Conclusion-19

6.1 Major findings-19

6.2 Significances-19

6.3 Limitations and Further research-20

References-21