A Brief Study on the Differences and Cultural Factors of English and Chinese Address Term Written by: Zhai Wenjun Supervised by: Fang Qiang Foreign Languages Department of Wanjiang College Anhui Normal University April 2011 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me during the writing of this thesis. A special acknowledgement should be shown to Professor Fang, who from whose lectures I benefited greatly. I am particularly indebted to my dear classmates and the workers in our library who help me a lot to plish this essay. I e across a lot of problems during writing this essay. However Professor Fang and my friends have given me some valuable advice and courage, I gain a lot from them. So, I want to express my sincere thanks to those who help me. What’s more, I gain a good knowledge from some websites, so I want to send my sincere thanks to it and my Professor Fang. A Brief Study on the Differences and Cultural Factors of English and Chinese Address Term Abstract Address term is a word or bination of words people use in addressing each other in munication. It shows the role people play munication, suggesting interpersonal relationships between them. Every language and culture has its own system of address terms. Address terms are not only an identity of a person, but also cultural marks. An appropriate address form promotes munication smoothly. English and Chinese address systems have obvious differences, which are rooted in different social and cultural backgrounds of their own. From intercultural point of view, this paper makes parison between daily English and Chinese address term and analyses the social and cultural elements behind the differences on the basis of family structures, values and sense of hierarchy. Key Words: address term; comparison; social and cultural influence
