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Language and Human Relations
Thewayinwhichpeopleaddressoneanotheriscrucialtoexpressingsocial
relationshipsandiscloselylinkedwithculturalvalues.InEnglishwecallsome
peoplebytheirfirstnamesandothers‘Mr’or‘Ms’,followedbytheirsurname.
Insomeotherlanguagestherearedifferentwaysofsaying‘you’dependingon
the degree of social distance. Exploring practices in the family, school,
university, workplace and in letters, this book reveals patterns in the varied
wayspeoplechoosetoaddressoneanother,frompronounstofirstnames,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,chatgroupsandparticipantobservation.
michael clyne is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of
LanguagesandLinguisticsattheUniversityofMelbourne.
catrin norrby is an Associate Professor and Reader in Swedish in the
SchoolofLanguagesandLinguisticsattheUniversityofMelbourne.
jane warren is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Languages and
LinguisticsattheUniversityofMelbourne.
Language and Human Relations
Styles of Address in Contemporary Language
Michael Clyne
Catrin Norrby
Jane Warren
UniversityofMelbourne
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521870627
© Michael Clyne, Catrin Norrby and Jane Warren 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-51805-8 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-87062-7 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Table of contents
Listoftablesandfigure pagevii
Listofabbreviationsandtranscriptionconventions ix
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Addressacrosslanguages 1
1.2 English 3
1.3 French 4
1.4 German 5
1.5 Swedish 7
1.6 Theresearchsites 9
1.7 Structureofthebook 12
2 Multipleapproachesforacomplexissue 14
2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 Researchonaddress 15
2.3 Theoretical issues 23
2.4 Methodology 32
2.5 Concludingremarks 35
3 Contextualisingaddresschoice 37
3.1 Thebasicaddresssystems 37
3.2 Socialmeaningsofpronominaladdressforms 43
3.3 Transition 48
3.4 Socialvariables:age 51
3.5 Socialvariables:status 62
3.6 Perceivedcommonalities 69
3.7 Theindividualasvariable 76
3.8 Concludingremarks 79
4 Institutions,domainsandmedium 81
4.1 Family 81
4.2 School 89
4.3 University 94
4.4 Workplace 100
4.5 Thetransactionaldomain 107
4.6 Medium:letters 114
v
vi Tableofcontents
4.7 Medium:computer-mediatedcommunication 116
4.8 Movingbetweendomains 123
4.9 Concludingremarks 125
5 Nationalvariation 127
5.1 Nationalvarieties 127
5.2 Pronounuseaccordingtonationalvariety:German 129
5.3 Pronounuseaccordingtonationalvariety:Swedish 132
5.4 Nominalmodesofaddress 139
5.5 Modesofaddressinletters 142
5.6 AwarenessofnationalvariationinGermanandSwedish 145
5.7 Languagecontact 146
5.8 Business/multinationalcompanies 150
5.9 Concludingremarks 152
6 Conclusions 154
6.1 Introduction 154
6.2 Towardsamodel 155
6.3 Non-reciprocityandtransition 159
6.4 Addressandculturalvaluesinthefaceofsociopoliticalchange 160
6.5 Thespecialcontributionsofthisstudy 161
6.6 Somegeneralissues 163
AppendixA 164
AppendixB 168
References 169
Index 177
Tables and figure
Table1.1 AddresspronounsystemsinFrench,GermanandSwedish page3
Table2.1 Dimensionsofsocialdistance 29
Table3.1 Percentageofrespondentsreportingunexpectedaddressin
French,GermanandSwedish 41
Table3.2 Percentageofpopulationineachagegroupaccordingto
language(French,GermanandSwedish) 52
Table3.3 French:useofVwithastrangerwhenaskingdirections 53
Table3.4 German:useofVwithastrangerwhenaskingdirections 55
Table3.5 Swedish:useofVwithastrangerwhenaskingdirections 57
Table3.6 Swedish:useofVwithapoliceofficer 59
Table3.7 French:addresspronounuseatwork(speaker–addressee) 63
Table3.8 French:opinionofcompaniessuchasIKEAprescribingtu 63
Table3.9 German:addresspronounuseatwork(speaker–addressee) 65
Table3.10 Swedish:addresspronounuseatwork(speaker–addressee) 66
Table4.1 French:pronounusedto/bypartner’sparents 82
Table4.2 German:pronounusedto/bypartner’sparents 84
Table4.3 Swedish:duorniintheworkplace 106
Table4.4 Swedish:useofVinserviceencounters–unfamiliarshop
assistant 111
Table4.5 Swedish:opinionofcompaniessuchasIKEAprescribingdu 113
Table5.1 German:Howdoyouaddressyoursuperiorsatwork?
Howdotheyaddressyou? 131
Table5.2 German:Howdoyouaddressyourco-workers?Howdo
theyaddressyou? 131
Table5.3 German:addressbetweenteachersandstudentsat
university 132
Table5.4 Swedish:situationsforVaddressinbothSwedishsites 133
Table5.5 Swedish:additionalsituationsforVaddressinVaasa 133
Table5.6 Swedish:attitudestotheuseofuniversalduinTVand
radiointerviews 137
Table5.7 German:numberofintervieweesreportinguseoftitlesin
theworkplace 140
vii
viii Listoftablesandfigure
Table5.8 German:howtostartalettertosomebodyyoudonotknow 143
Table5.9 Swedish:howtostartalettertosomebodyyoudonotknow 144
Figure
Figure3.1 Abasiccontinuumofreciprocalmodesofaddressin
English,French,GermanandSwedish(singleaddressee) 38
Description: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 'y
