power and solidarity

[Susan Ervin-Tripp]

Before representing the distinctness of power and solidarity
dimensions as Tannen's invention, be sure to reread Roger W. Brown's
treatment of this subject in his 1960 classic paper with Al Gilman,
and in his book on social psychology.  Brown, who was a pioneer in the study
of address term semantics, represented the distinctness of
these clearly. In fact he regarded these two different dimensions as
central to the study of social relations.
Most writers on address terms, including my survey in 1968 (reprinted
in 1973), subsequently preserved this distinctness.

The nice point Brown made was that in linguistic
paradigms with two alternatives, such as tu/vous, the communication
of the four possible cells generated by the two semantic/social
dimensions is a problem, and can lead to misunderstandings.
In certain conditions, one of the dimensions is neutralized.
Of course the presence of other kinds of linguistic cues for disambiguation
has been described.
e.g. "in the Bisayan system inferiors or friends who are older
receive a special term
of address uniting informality and deference." Thus Bisayan  address
is not a two-
choice system.

I would be interested if anyone finds a Brown publication in which he
treats power and solidarity as two ends of one dimension. If others did
that, it's not his fault. This was an important theoretical contribution and
should be honored.
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Susan M. Ervin-Tripp                     tel (510) 642-5292
Professor Emeritus                       FAX (510) 642-5293
Psychology Department                 ervintrp at socrates.berkeley.edu

University of California
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ervintrp/
  Berkeley CA 94720
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