Address in Some Western European Languages
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Other Address Research Initiatives
Most languages other than English have more than one pronoun of address (ie. words for 'you', such as 'tu' and 'vous' in French), often referred to as T and V pronouns. The choice of address pronoun depends on various contextual factors, such as the number of people addressed, the social relationship between the speaker and the addressee, and the speech situation.
This project seeks to elaborate a unified model of address usage within a small group of related languages: French, German and Swedish. Each of these languages can be loosely characterised as providing a different sociolinguistic type within the European context.
The way people address each other is crucial to interpersonal communication as it both reflects and influences social relations and hierarchies. The study of address systems thus has significance for linguistics and other research into social structures and social change.
Specifically, this project will investigate the extent to which recent sociopolitical events and changes have impacted on language by examining how the unmarked choice of address pronouns (ie. the pronoun chosen more normally) has changed since World War II, and comparing across the three languages. Comparisons will also be made with Italian and Dutch and between nations using the same language.
In the case of French, research will take place in two locations in France; in two locations in Germany and one in Austria for German; in one location in each of Sweden and Finland for Swedish.
Data is being collected in focus groups, interviews, electronic discussion lists/chat rooms dedicated to this issue, and a mail survey of companies' guidelines/policies regarding forms of address in the workplace. The project has progressed well throughout 2004. Most of the in-country RAs have finished their focus groups and are well on the way to finishing the network interviews. Members of the research team have met with each of the in-country RAs at various stages throughout the year to monitor their progress and have also conducted participant observations in the countries concerned. Data is being processed and analysed as it is received by the local RAs. Several journal publications based on the first wave of data received have been or are in the process of being published.
To date, there is no comparative study of this kind. The present project will therefore be the first large-scale study of address pronoun use covering three important European languages and two major language groups (Germanic and Romance) within a shared physical area. Furthermore, it is the first cross-linguistic study of address pronouns with a focus on regional contiguity, specifically in an area of Europe that has since World War II been moving towards political, social and economic integration, but where identification with local cultures still remains strong.
The three languages, given the different local cultures, provide an extremely useful context for comparative research within a clearly defined region of the world. In addition, the project will provide a new and innovative model for the sociolinguistic analysis of address pronoun use in European languages.
More information about this project will be made available as the project progresses. If you would like to contact us regarding this project, please contact Yvette Slaughter, on (+61 3) 8344 8950 or rumaccc-info@unimelb.edu.au.
Project Details
Researchers:
Professor Michael Clyne, Dr Leo Kretzenbacher, Dr Catrin Norrby and Dr Jane Warren
Local Research Assistants:
Leo Conroy, Jo Hughson, Doris Schüpbach with the assistance of Dr Judy Hadju
Overseas Research Assistants:
Kristin Gogolok (Germany), Emanuelle Guérin (France), Maria Hansson (Sweden), Sandra Lachmann (Germany), Ann Mahieu-Bottequin (France), Jenny Nilsson (Sweden), Heidi Nyblom (Finland), Maria Weissenböck (Austria)
Administration: Yvette Slaughter
Email: rumaccc-info@unimelb.edu.au
Expected duration: 2003 - 2005
Funding: ARC Discovery Grant
Institutional involvement:
This project is being conducted at the University of Melbourne, in partnership between the Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-Cultural Communication (RUMACCC), the School of Languages and Linguistics' - Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, German, Russian and Swedish Studies and French, Italian and Spanish Studies.