Abstract

   Address forms, as an indispensable part of language, play a prominent role in daily speech communication and are considered the first message conveyed by speakers to hearers. Politeness, which is an external manifestation of culture, is universal but culturally specific.There is no doubt that almost each language has its own address forms and addressing system on the basis of politeness and politeness principle. This paper intends to make a brief comparative and analysis of Chinese and English address forms under the guidance of politeness principle by Brown and Levinson as well as Gu Yuguo, a Chinese scholar, for the purpose of revealing social and cultural elements lying behind the differences of the two systems. Realizing these differences can avoid misunderstandings and pragmatic failure, thus achieving success in cross-cultural communication. And that will contribute to developing and improving pragmatic competence for language learners.
    Based on the introductions to the definition, classification and function of address forms and elaborations on the two politeness principles as well as Chinese and English address systems respectively in Chinese and English cultural backgrounds, the present paper discusses and analyzes in depth the cultural root of the differences behind two systems. In addition, the paper recites several important semantic changes of address forms in recent years, and even probes into pragmatic failures with regard to the improper usage of address forms, especially in cross-cultural communication.

Key words: address forms; politeness principle; comparative analysis

摘  要

   作为语言不可或缺的一部分，称呼语在日常言语交际中占有举足轻重的地位，且往往被认为是说话人向听话人传达的第一信息。礼貌是文化的外在表现形式，具有普遍性和文化上的差异性。毫无疑问，在礼貌和礼貌原则基础上，每种语言都有其特有的称呼语及称呼体系。在由Brown 和Levinson提出的英语礼貌原则和顾曰国的汉语礼貌原则指导下，本论文将对中英称呼语做一个简单的比较和分析，同时探讨和揭示这些差别后深刻的社会文化根源。理解这些差异能避免误解和语用失误，从而能成功地进行跨文化交流，同时有助于语言学习者提高和完善自身的语用能力。
    在简要介绍称呼语的概念、分类和功能，阐述中英文化背景下的两种礼貌原则和中英两种称呼体系的基础上，本文对造成中英称呼体系差别的文化根源进行了深度分析，并列举了近年来称呼语发生的一些重大语义改变实例，探讨跨文化交际中称呼语
的不当使用造成的语用失误现象。

关键词: 称呼语；礼貌原则；比较分析