Abstract Language is an important part of national culture。Different nations possess different history, culture and custom, which all reflected in the language。 Address Term is not only a phenomenon of language, but also of culture which is the concentrative expression of history and customs。 Though it is not a new topic in academic researches, is still worth studying for its importance in the daily use。 On the basis of the former researches, this paper takes Politeness Principle as theoretical foundation and makes a comparative study of Chinese and English address terms from the aspects of kinship terms and social terms, and discusses the cause of differences, to promote communication and mixture among Chinese and Western cultures。 73543

Keywords: Politeness Principle; address terms; comparative study

摘要语言是民族文化的重要组成部分，不同的民族有不同的历史，文化，风俗，这些不同表现在各民族的语言中。称谓语是语言系统中较小的一部分，却担当着重要的社交礼仪与交流的功能。它不仅仅是一种语言现象，还是一种社会，文化现象，是一个民族历史文化，风俗习惯等的集中体现。称谓语在日常生活中是人际关系的桥梁，在跨文化交流中也发挥了极其重要作用。它的使用往往在一开始就决定了交际活动能否顺利愉快的进行，其使用不当会阻碍交际活动，甚至导致交际失败。尤其在跨文化交际活动中，了解并掌握英汉称谓系统的差异并根据交际语境选择恰当的称谓语是成功进行跨文化交流的前提条件之一。本文试图以礼貌原则为理论基础，对比研究中西方称谓语的差异，以期促进中西方文化的交流与融合。

毕业论文关键词：礼貌原则；称谓语；对比研究

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

2。 Literature Review 1

2。 1 Politeness Principle 1

2。 2 Studies of address terms 3

3。 The Differences of Chinese and English Address Terms 4

3。 1 Differences of kinship terms 4

3。 2 Differences of social terms 6

4。 The Causes of Differences in Address Terms 9

4。 1 The cause of difference in kinship terms 9

4。 2 The cause of difference in social terms 10

5。 Conclusion 11

Works Cited 13

1。 Introduction 

Culture is a complexity, which includes knowledge, belief, art, ethics, law, custom and other capacities acquired from social practice。 It has distinct nationality, which is cultural identity。 Different cultures present different cultural morphology which reflect in the language level, is language difference。 Address forms, as a beginning of a conversation, are conclusive factors which determine a communication successful or not。 Address terms are the word or words used to address somebody in speech or writing。 The way in which people address one another usually depends on their age, sex, social status and personal relationship。 Address forms can perform many functions: Firstly, they indicate the social status and social relationship of both two sides。 Secondly, they guide communication by conveying indicative information。 At last, they reflect ethic culture that address forms are used in the light of age, sex, social status such social relationship。 Though as a small part of language, address forms play a significant role in interacting。 It is the centralized reflection of a nation’s culture。 论文网