An Analysis of the Differences in Appellation between China and Britain

【Abstract】Appellation is the term that people address each other. It reflects a persons identity in different conversation environment. Since appellation in China and Britain belong to different addressing systems and has different usages， the all-sided understanding of the differences in it between China and Britain is of vital importance in any successful intercultural communication. This paper will give a general discussion about the differences in several types of appellation between China and England. Whats more， the reasons for differences will also be discussed.

【Key words】appellation； differences； China； England

I. Introduction

In human society， appellation embodies a particular persons identity in a specific interpersonal relationship network. Also it reflects the relationship between people in a certain society or specific language environment. According to Crystal， address forms are “The terms used to refer to some indirect linguistic interactions.”（Crystal， 1980）. “Address forms are the words speakers use to designate the person while they are talking to them.” （Fasold， 2000）. Appellation is the product of a particular culture and is the cultural symbol in interpersonal relationship. Different cultural systems， cultural views and cultural mentalities endow the appellation words with different semantic contents.

II. Classification on address forms

Address term is a word used to address somebody in speech. The way in which people address others depends on age， sex， social status and interpersonal relationships. Generally， appellation can be divided into seven groups.

（1） General addressing

In English， there are many terms that are used to address someone without considering age， professional titles， gender or other factors. This is usually called general addressing， for example， “Mr.， Mrs.， Ms.， Miss.， Sir.” and etc. In Chinese， we also have “先生， 女士， 夫人” and etc. This group can only carry limited information about the person to whom you are speaking. And the English form is not always applicable in Chinese in some cases.

（2） Addressing by professional title

This means using professional title to address someone. When it comes to the professional title， the address forms in English are different from those of Chinese. In English， we apply professional title+family name， for example， Dr. David， Prof. Brown etc. While in Chinese， we use peoples last name+professional title， such as “王博士”， “李教授” and etc.

（3） Addressing by position

As for addressing someone by his or her position， there are many address forms used for position in China， such as driver， manager， doctor， director， teacher and etc. But this scene is seldom seen in English. For example， In Chinese， we usually call “李老師” or simply “老師”. But in English， it is improper to call the teacher “teacher”， the students tend to call “Mr. Smith” or just their first name， such as “Amanda” and etc.

（4） Addressing by name

It simply refers to addressing someone by his or her full name， alias， or childhood name. In Chinese， people who are familiar with each other usually call “老， 小， 大”+last name， whereas this is not going to happen in England. In England， there are cases in which children call their parents and teachers by using their given names.

（5） Addressing by kinship term

In England as well as in China， kinship terms are used to address relatives. It is quite clear that Chinese kinship terms are much more complicated than English. And Chinese people widely and frequently use kinship terms to call those who are actually not their relatives. For example， In Chinese， one may call someone who is not his relatives and is the same age as his grandpa “爺爺” and his grandma “奶奶”. But this will not happen in England.

（6） Addressing by personal pronoun

Addressing by personal pronoun is mainly about second person pronoun. In old English， there is a word “thou” which refers to a second person who is more respectable and has a higher rank. But in todays modern English， this kind of usage has already missing.

（7） Zero addressing

When we dont know how to call a person properly， we tend to use greeting words， such as “Excuse me”， “Hello” etc， or we may use the listeners state of existence or the activities he is taking part in to address him. By doing this we may avoid the embarrassing conditions.

III. Reasons for the differences in appellation

According to different cultural background， the appellation systems of all kinds of culture are dramatically different from each other. So， a serous-minded comparative study of the reasons for this difference is of vital importance to reveal the cultural characteristics of the nations language. The reasons for differences in appellation between China and Britain can be summarized as follows.

Family structure. Since ancient times， Chinese people live in the feudal patriarchal society for a long time. People regard family as the center and the idea of united family is deep rooted in ones mind. So the traditional concept of patriarchal clan has a huge impact on the kinship systems and this also is the necessary product of historical development. In Britain， feudal system exists in a relatively short time， and the capitalist system replaced the feudal system in early period. So， English kinship systems emphasize more human nature than patriarchy. “In western countries， nuclear family occupies leading station. ”（Hu， 1999）. As a result of this phenomenon， most of the family is core family or dink family .

Polite principle. Chinas polite principles of “humble one and respect others” are most distinctly reflected in kinship terms， while western countries polite habits are embodied in the complication of syntactic structures and other aspects of communicative behavior. Chinese appellation systems not only have the distinction between the elder and the younger， but also have the difference between the gentle and the simple. Specifically speaking， the main difference between China and Britain lies in the choices between addressing someone by his first name or use “professional title+surname”. English would like to address others directly by their first name despite their social status and generations. This obviously shows a strong desire in trying to eliminate the differences in social status， or implies a gradual equality among people in Britain.

IV. Conclusion

Chinese and English address systems are almost two extreme appellation systems. The former is one of the most abundant and complicated address systems throughout the world， whereas the latter is more simple and general than others. If we ignore these differences and regard our national cultural tradition as the most prestigious and excellent one， misunderstandings and communication barriers would definitely occur. As for the address systems， only do we get a general idea of the differences between Chinese and English appellation systems can we get across the information effectively to others and avoid misunderstandings. Also， we must know about them so that Foreign Language Teaching and cross-cultural communication can be greatly improved and facilitated.

References：

[1]Fasold，R.The Sociolinguistics of Language.Ltd：Blackwell Publishers，2000.

[2]Crystal，David.A First dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1980.

[3]胡文仲.跨文化交際學概論[M].外語教學與研究出版社， 1999.

[4]裘燕萍.漢英親屬稱謂系統的對比研究[J].四川外語學院學報，2003，（3）.

作者簡介： 解婷（1990-）， 女， 漢族，陜西渭南人， 現就職于陜西國際商貿學院基礎課部，研究生，助教，主要研究方向： 英語教學。