A Comparative Study of Address Forms in English and Japanese ---- From a Social-Cultural Perspective

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。 90351

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 

英日称谓语对比研究——从社会文化视角

摘  要 称谓语作为礼貌语的标志之一，是交际活动不可缺少的组成部分，恰当的称谓语能够促进人们的人际交往顺利。每种语言中都有各种各样的称谓语。在一种民族文化中，该称谓语的使用是礼貌恰当的，但放在另一种文化中，也许就不适用了。

本文对英语和日语的称谓语进行了比较，试图找出这两种语言间的差异性。文中的对比是在亲属称谓、社会称谓、人称代词和姓名称谓这四个维度的基础上展开的。该文还将从社会、文化、历史等多角度分析，探寻英日称谓语产生差异的主要原因。在最后，本文将回答相关的三个问题：（1）英语和日语称谓语的区别是什么？（2）是什么社会文化因素导致了差异的形成？（3）礼貌因素在英语和日语称谓语中充当了什么角色？该文旨在帮助人们对称谓语有更加全面的了解，并通过英日两种语言的对比进一步促进跨文化交流。

毕业论文关键词：称谓语；英语；日语；比较研究；社会-文化视角

Contents

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