More on Forms of Address

[Kerim Friedman]

So far, most people have mentioned Susan Ervin-Tripp's work, which is actually what started off the discussion in the sociolinguistics class that I was auditing. They are reading Fasold where there is a very nice discussion of Brown and Gilman, Brown and Ford, and others (sorry I don't have the book in front of me so I can't copy out all the references, but the book is one of Fasold's two Blackwell introductions to Sociolinguistics) that includes Ervin-Tripp's flow-chart.

Most people have confirmed the tendency to avoid any kind of address whatsoever if the name is unknown. What interests me most is that some people reported hearing *other* people use terms like "buddy, dear, man, etc." but don't feel comfortable using these terms themselves. My question is who does use these terms and in what contexts? I have heard them most from older people working in the service industry, which may mean that they are mostly used in that context, but it might be that these people use them in their daily life as well and that my only contact with them is in such situations. (Also, some terms, like "sister" and "brother" in the church, or "sir" and "ma'am" in the army seem confined to use by members of specific societies or organizations.) I would be especially interested in hearing any thoughts on this topic.

Again, my e-mail address is <kerim.mail at oxus.net>.

kerim
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P. KERIM FRIEDMAN
			Anthropology, Temple University
			<mailto:kerim.mail at oxus.net>
			<http://kerim.oxus.net>
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