TERMS OF

ADDRESS IN
ENGLISH
Sociolinguistics

 Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between

language and society, therefore it also studies the way
people speak and address in different countries. The
study of personal address has always been a popular
topic within sociolinguistics, because terms of address
open communicative acts and set the tone for the
interchanges that follow.
Terms of address - are words, names or titles used in
addressing someone. These terms may be friendly,
unfriendly, respectful or disrespectful. Therefore, if you
want to express some feelings towards someone, you
have to choose a special form of address.

 If we want to address people, we need to take

several factors in consideration, as age, gender,
religion ethnicity our relationship or
occupational hierarchy status.
There are some rules of using terms of address,
but it varies on different occasions and these
rules are not always used. English vocabulary is
rich and there are many forms of addressing
people. Many different local or national varieties
of English have their own terms of address.

 There are also different terms of address depending on the

relationship between the speaker and the other
person.English once had the thou/you distinction and still
offers a range of address terms, ranging from Title Alone (Sir,
Your Majesty, Madame), through Title+ Last name (Mr. Jones,
Lord Clark, Mrs. Smith).
Title+ first or last name is a common pattern in many
languages. First Name is mostly used in informal situations to
indicate intimate relationship between users.In English, Last
Name is not commonly used by itself;

 When you see your intimate friends, you may call

them by their first name or some terms of
endearment such as dear, honey, etc. However, if you
visit your professors or boss, you are not allowed to
call them by their first name or you may seem
impolite. Status, age, education, power and solidarity
are the factors involve in the choice of the
appropriate address term in this case.
In meeting of new people its normal to use their first
name. Very old people, however, sometimes prefer to
be addressed by their surname as they consider it
more respectful.

Here are some formal titles English speakers use:

Sir(adult male of any age)

Ma'am(adult female - North American)

Madam(adult female)

Mr + last name(any man)

Mrs + last name(married woman who uses her husband's last

name)

Ms + last name(married or unmarried woman; common in

business)

Miss + last name(unmarried woman)

Dr + last name(some doctors go by Dr + first name)

Professor + last name(in a university setting)

In conclusion:

Terms of address have a great role in recognizing human

social concepts or its relationship in society. The forms of
address in English Language are different and they also
get different stylistic or emotional implications. Their
usage in daily life are quite complex, and it depends with
whom we speak, the class, age, group and place were in.
The study of this theme helps us to know how to address
different kind of people. This key needs not only to
understand the rules, but also the taking of relevant
factors into consideration. A thorough study and good
mastery of address forms is necessary for intercultural
communication.