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The numberof social titles in English language is limited

Abstract:Address forms are common phenomena in human verbal communication in daily life and universalacross cultures. The numberof social titles in English language is limited, butthey are used broadly in socialinteractions. The common English social titles includeMr., Mrs., Miss, Ms, Sir, Madam, Lady etc., theirevolutions and usages will be elaborated in this paper.

Key Words:English social titles evolution of common social title

1　Introduction　　
Address forms are common phenomena in human verbal communication in daily life and universal across cul-tures, they are barometers of interpersonal relationship. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1975: 16)defines address form as the correct title or name that you use for someone when you are speaking to them[1]. Fasold(1990:1) states that address forms are the words speakers used to designate the person they are talking to while theyare talking to them[2]. Accordingto different criteria, address forms can be divided into different categories, including(1) personal names; (2) pronouns; (3) titles; (4) kinship address forms and social address forms; (5) self-reference forms, forms addressed to one’s face and forms addressed behind one’s back; (6) direct address forms andindirect forms; (7) singular address form and plural address form; (8) honorific address forms, depreciative addressforms and neutral address forms etc.In address system, title refers to the formof nomenclature indicating person’s status (e.g. professor, queen) orused as form of address or reference (e.g. Lord, Your Grace) (Fowler 1988: 790)[3], which can be subdivided intosocial, professional, official, academic and military titles. The present study focuses on social titles. The number ofsocial titles is limited in English, but they are used broadly in social interactions.

2　Social titles in English
2.1　Mr.
Mr. was formerly an abbreviation of“Master”. Between the late sixteenth century and the beginning of the eigh-teenth century the pronunciation of“Master”when used before a family name slowly changed to“Mister”, and a newwordwas created, used as a prefixed social title for anyman not entitled to be addressed by a superior social or profes-sional title (Dunkling, 1990: 152)[4]. Mr. usually appears together with a last name rather than used alone. Thereare three kinds of address forms consist ofMr.: (1) Mr. + last name. All adultmen, young or old, married or un-married, may be addressed in this form. It is also possible that in a college class, a professor may address his malestudent in this way, which shows equality between people in a certain sense. (2) Mr. + title. Some professional ti-tles can be used withMr. to address a man to show respect, like Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, Mr. Ambassador,Mr. Governor, Mr. Major etc(3) Mr. + names of places (e.g. country, city) orMr. + activities (e.g. sports) orMr. + adjectives etc. This address form indicates the special characteristic of the addressee such as Mr. America,Mr. Baseball, Mr. Clever, Mr. Warm-hearted etc[5]. WhenMr. is not usedwith last name, it iswritten as“mis-ter”[5], which is the equal of“sir”and applied informally in American English to drawthe addressee’s attention (e.g.“Hey, mister, you dropped your wallet.”) or show the speaker’s complaint or rebuke to the addressee (e.g.“What do you think you 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。