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Chapter 4. Address terms in social media requests

A contrastive study of Chinese and Japanese university students

image of Chapter 4. Address terms in social media requests

Although address terms have been examined in Chinese and Japanese, few studies have compared the use of address terms between the two languages. This study investigates address terms in Chinese and Japanese in social media communication, focusing on requests between university students. Two sets of data were collected, one from social media and the other from focus groups. The findings revealed both similarities and differences in address terms in the two languages. Neither Chinese nor Japanese participants use address terms frequently in social media requests between peers. When they employ address terms between peers on social media, both groups prefer using first names and nicknames. However, Chinese participants tend to use kinship terms frequently, which are not used by Japanese participants. It is argued that factors such as social distance, pragmatic constraints, language play, preference for positive politeness, globalisation, and new technologies all contribute to the findings here.

e-Book ISBN 9789027249692
  • Affiliations: 1: Beihang University; 2: Tsuru University/Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics

References

  1. Blum-Kulka, Shoshana , Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper .
    (Eds.) 1989 Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Brown, Penelope & Stephen C. Levinson
    1987 Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813085
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085 [Google Scholar]
  3. Chao, Yuenren
    1956 Chinese terms of address. Language, 32(1), 217–241. 10.2307/410666
     https://doi.org/10.2307/410666 [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen, Rong , Lin He & Chunmei Hu
    2013 Chinese requests: In comparison to American and Japanese requests and with reference to the “East-West divide”. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 140–161. 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012 [Google Scholar]
  5. Clyne, Michael , Catrin Norrby & Jane Warren
    2009 Language and human relations: Style of address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511576690
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511576690 [Google Scholar]
  6. Fujii, Yoko
    2013 Social indexicality of the ‘zero’ form of address terms in Japanese: The interpretation from the Amae concept on the basis of ‘inseparable self and the other’. Journal of Faculty of Humanities, Japan Women’s University, 62, 23–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Fukushima, Saeko
    1996 Request strategies in British English and Japanese. Language Sciences, 18, 671–688. 10.1016/S0388‑0001(96)00041‑1
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(96)00041-1 [Google Scholar]
  8. 2000 Requests and culture: Politeness in British English and Japanese. Bern: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. 2003 A cross-cultural study of requests: The case of British and Japanese undergraduates. In Katarzyna Jaszczolt & Ken Turner (Eds.), Meaning through language contrast (Vol. 2, pp. 263–275). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.100.17fuk
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.100.17fuk [Google Scholar]
  10. 2020 Metapragmatics of attentiveness: A study in interpersonal and cross-cultural pragmatics. Sheffield: Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Gu, Yueguo
    1990 Politeness phenomena in Modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 237–257. 10.1016/0378‑2166(90)90082‑O
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90082-O [Google Scholar]
  12. He, Ziran & Wei Ren
    2016 Current address behaviour in China. East Asian Pragmatics, 1(2), 163–180. 10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537
     https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537 [Google Scholar]
  13. Hori, Motoko
    2000 Language change in Japanese society. In Politeness Research Group (JACET SIG) (Ed.), The positive politeness trend in recent Japanese (pp. 59–69). Gifu: JACET Politeness Research Group.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Ide, Sachiko & Kishiko Ueno
    2011 Honorifics and address terms. In Gisle Andersen & Karin Aijmer (Eds.), Pragmatics of society (pp. 441–470). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110214420.439
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  15. Kitayama, Tamaki
    2013 The distribution and characteristics of Japanese vocatives in business situations. Pragmatics, 23(3), 447–479.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Mazzon, Gabriella
    2010 Terms of address. In Andreas H. Jucker & Irma Taavitsainen (Eds.), Historical pragmatics (pp. 351–376). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110214284.5.351
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214284.5.351 [Google Scholar]
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    1987 Language and social networks (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
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  18. Nakane, Chie
    1970 Japanese society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Okamura, Akiko
    2009 Do English speakers address their Japanese colleagues by their first name, while talking in English in Japan?Multilingua, 28, 355–377. 10.1515/mult.2009.016
     https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2009.016 [Google Scholar]
  20. Pan, Yuling & Dániel Z. Kádár
    2011 Historical vs. contemporary Chinese linguistic politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1525–1539. 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018 [Google Scholar]
  21. Ren, Juanjuan & Xinren Chen
    2019 Kinship term generalization as a cultural pragmatic strategy among Chinese graduate students. Pragmatics and Society, 10(4), 613–638. 10.1075/ps.18009.ren
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18009.ren [Google Scholar]
  22. Ren, Wei
    2016 Strategies used in Chinese university students’ ELF emails to remedy or prevent problems in understanding. In Yuan-shan. Chen , Der-Hwa Victoria Rau , & Gerald Rau (Eds.), Email Discourse among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca (pp. 163–181). Berlin: Springer. 10.1007/978‑981‑287‑888‑5_8
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-888-5_8 [Google Scholar]
  23. 2018a Exploring Chinese digital communication. Discourse, Context and Media, 26, 1–4. 10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.002 [Google Scholar]
  24. 2018b Variational pragmatics in Chinese requests. Wai Guo Yu [Journal of Foreign Languages], 41(4), 66–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. 2019 Pragmatic development of Chinese during study abroad: A cross-sectional study of learner requests. Journal of Pragmatics, 146, 137–149. 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.017
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.017 [Google Scholar]
  26. Ren, Wei & Saeko Fukushima
    2021 Comparison between Chinese and Japanese social media requests. Contrastive Pragmatics, 2(2), 200–226.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Shinmura, Izuru
    2020 Kojien. (7th ed.). Tokyo: Iwanami shoten.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Sifianou, Maria
    2013 The impact of globalisation on politeness and impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 86–102. 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016 [Google Scholar]
  29. Sifianou, Maria & Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich
    2017 (Im)politeness and cultural variation. In Jonathan Culpeper , Michael Haugh & Dániel Z. Kádár (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of linguistic (im)politeness (pp. 571–599). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/978‑1‑137‑37508‑7_22
     https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_22 [Google Scholar]
  30. Stewart, David W. & Prem N. Shamdasani
    1990 Focus groups: Theory and practice. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Takanashi, Hiroko
    2011 Complementary stylistic resonance in Japanese play framing. Pragmatics, 21(2), 231–264.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Takiura, Masato
    2007 Koshou no poraitonesu: Hito wo yobu koto no goyouron [Politeness of address forms: Pragmatics on addressing people]. Gengo, 36(12), 32–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Zhang, Yanyin
    1995 Strategies in Chinese requesting. In Gabriele Kasper (Ed.), Pragmatics of Chinese as native and target language (pp. 23–67). Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Zhu, Hua
    2010 Language socialization and interculturality: Address terms in intergenerational talk in Chinese diasporic families. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(3), 189–205. 10.1080/14708470903348531
     https://doi.org/10.1080/14708470903348531 [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Blum-Kulka, Shoshana , Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper .
    (Eds.) 1989 Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Brown, Penelope & Stephen C. Levinson
    1987 Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813085
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085 [Google Scholar]
  3. Chao, Yuenren
    1956 Chinese terms of address. Language, 32(1), 217–241. 10.2307/410666
     https://doi.org/10.2307/410666 [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen, Rong , Lin He & Chunmei Hu
    2013 Chinese requests: In comparison to American and Japanese requests and with reference to the “East-West divide”. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 140–161. 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012 [Google Scholar]
  5. Clyne, Michael , Catrin Norrby & Jane Warren
    2009 Language and human relations: Style of address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511576690
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511576690 [Google Scholar]
  6. Fujii, Yoko
    2013 Social indexicality of the ‘zero’ form of address terms in Japanese: The interpretation from the Amae concept on the basis of ‘inseparable self and the other’. Journal of Faculty of Humanities, Japan Women’s University, 62, 23–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Fukushima, Saeko
    1996 Request strategies in British English and Japanese. Language Sciences, 18, 671–688. 10.1016/S0388‑0001(96)00041‑1
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(96)00041-1 [Google Scholar]
  8. 2000 Requests and culture: Politeness in British English and Japanese. Bern: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. 2003 A cross-cultural study of requests: The case of British and Japanese undergraduates. In Katarzyna Jaszczolt & Ken Turner (Eds.), Meaning through language contrast (Vol. 2, pp. 263–275). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.100.17fuk
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.100.17fuk [Google Scholar]
  10. 2020 Metapragmatics of attentiveness: A study in interpersonal and cross-cultural pragmatics. Sheffield: Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Gu, Yueguo
    1990 Politeness phenomena in Modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 237–257. 10.1016/0378‑2166(90)90082‑O
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90082-O [Google Scholar]
  12. He, Ziran & Wei Ren
    2016 Current address behaviour in China. East Asian Pragmatics, 1(2), 163–180. 10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537
     https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.v1i2.29537 [Google Scholar]
  13. Hori, Motoko
    2000 Language change in Japanese society. In Politeness Research Group (JACET SIG) (Ed.), The positive politeness trend in recent Japanese (pp. 59–69). Gifu: JACET Politeness Research Group.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Ide, Sachiko & Kishiko Ueno
    2011 Honorifics and address terms. In Gisle Andersen & Karin Aijmer (Eds.), Pragmatics of society (pp. 441–470). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110214420.439
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214420.439 [Google Scholar]
  15. Kitayama, Tamaki
    2013 The distribution and characteristics of Japanese vocatives in business situations. Pragmatics, 23(3), 447–479.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Mazzon, Gabriella
    2010 Terms of address. In Andreas H. Jucker & Irma Taavitsainen (Eds.), Historical pragmatics (pp. 351–376). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110214284.5.351
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214284.5.351 [Google Scholar]
  17. Milroy, Lesley
    1987 Language and social networks (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Nakane, Chie
    1970 Japanese society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Okamura, Akiko
    2009 Do English speakers address their Japanese colleagues by their first name, while talking in English in Japan?Multilingua, 28, 355–377. 10.1515/mult.2009.016
     https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2009.016 [Google Scholar]
  20. Pan, Yuling & Dániel Z. Kádár
    2011 Historical vs. contemporary Chinese linguistic politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1525–1539. 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.018 [Google Scholar]
  21. Ren, Juanjuan & Xinren Chen
    2019 Kinship term generalization as a cultural pragmatic strategy among Chinese graduate students. Pragmatics and Society, 10(4), 613–638. 10.1075/ps.18009.ren
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18009.ren [Google Scholar]
  22. Ren, Wei
    2016 Strategies used in Chinese university students’ ELF emails to remedy or prevent problems in understanding. In Yuan-shan. Chen , Der-Hwa Victoria Rau , & Gerald Rau (Eds.), Email Discourse among Chinese Using English as a Lingua Franca (pp. 163–181). Berlin: Springer. 10.1007/978‑981‑287‑888‑5_8
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-888-5_8 [Google Scholar]
  23. 2018a Exploring Chinese digital communication. Discourse, Context and Media, 26, 1–4. 10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.002 [Google Scholar]
  24. 2018b Variational pragmatics in Chinese requests. Wai Guo Yu [Journal of Foreign Languages], 41(4), 66–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. 2019 Pragmatic development of Chinese during study abroad: A cross-sectional study of learner requests. Journal of Pragmatics, 146, 137–149. 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.017
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.017 [Google Scholar]
  26. Ren, Wei & Saeko Fukushima
    2021 Comparison between Chinese and Japanese social media requests. Contrastive Pragmatics, 2(2), 200–226.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Shinmura, Izuru
    2020 Kojien. (7th ed.). Tokyo: Iwanami shoten.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Sifianou, Maria
    2013 The impact of globalisation on politeness and impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 86–102. 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.016 [Google Scholar]
  29. Sifianou, Maria & Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich
    2017 (Im)politeness and cultural variation. In Jonathan Culpeper , Michael Haugh & Dániel Z. Kádár (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of linguistic (im)politeness (pp. 571–599). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/978‑1‑137‑37508‑7_22
     https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_22 [Google Scholar]
  30. Stewart, David W. & Prem N. Shamdasani
    1990 Focus groups: Theory and practice. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Takanashi, Hiroko
    2011 Complementary stylistic resonance in Japanese play framing. Pragmatics, 21(2), 231–264.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Takiura, Masato
    2007 Koshou no poraitonesu: Hito wo yobu koto no goyouron [Politeness of address forms: Pragmatics on addressing people]. Gengo, 36(12), 32–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Zhang, Yanyin
    1995 Strategies in Chinese requesting. In Gabriele Kasper (Ed.), Pragmatics of Chinese as native and target language (pp. 23–67). Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Zhu, Hua
    2010 Language socialization and interculturality: Address terms in intergenerational talk in Chinese diasporic families. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(3), 189–205. 10.1080/14708470903348531
     https://doi.org/10.1080/14708470903348531 [Google Scholar]

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