The role of social context, intimacy, and distance in the choice of forms of address

Abstract

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of social context as well as intimacy and distance on the choice of forms of address in Persian. However, as secondary objective, variation in the use of address forms according to social characteristics of the speakers will also be studied. The hypothesis is that variations in the forms of address are related not only to age, sex, and social class characteristics of the interlocutors but also to the setting, intimacy, and social distance. The results of the data analysis indicate that the use of intimate terms of address is inversely proportional to social distance and the formality of context. That is, as social distance and degree of formality of context increase, the frequency of familiar terms of address decreases. It was also found that in informal familial situations age is more signi®cant than sex and social class in determining forms of address. However, under formal circumstances, sex is a stronger determiner in the use of address forms.

Vous or tu? Native and non-native speakers of French on a sociolinguistic tightrope

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The Study of Persian Address Terms in Young Adult Novels According to the Politeness Theory

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