Cover not available

In:It’s not all about you: New perspectives on address research
Edited by Bettina Kluge and María Irene Moyna
[Topics in Address Research 1] 2019
► pp. 397–414

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Person-referring expressions, reference nominals, and address nominals

Informalization in an Illinois neighborhood social group

Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tar.1.16bur
Abstract
This chapter discusses reference nominals – closely related to address nominals – within a single-genre written corpus. It traces how the choice of reference nominals changed over five decades in the mid-20th century. Specifically, the chapter shows how the secretaries of a neighborhood social club referred to their neighbors as (for example) Mrs. Jones in the minutes from the 1940s, and by the late 1980s, used forms such as Sally Jones in writings in the same genre, meeting minutes. While this change is in keeping with the change from distance politeness to camaraderie posited by Lakoff (2005a), the dates of the corpus show that the change occurred earlier than Lakoff claimed. This corresponds to the view that informalization, which has been documented in address nominals, is a widespread rather than a localized trend.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The corpus: Minute books and membership lists
    • 2.1The club year
  • 3.Meeting minutes as genre
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Reference nominals in records from the 1940s
    • 4.2Reference nominals in club minutes from the 1950s
    • 4.3Reference nominals in club minutes from the 1960s
    • 4.4Reference nominal forms in the minutes of the 1970s
    • 4.5Reference and signature forms in the 1980s
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (19)
References
Brown, Penelope & Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Roger & Albert Gilman. 1960. The pronouns of power and solidarity. In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.), Style in language, 253–276. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burt, Susan Meredith. 2015. “There’s not a lot of negotiation”: Address terms in an academic department. In Marina Terkourafi (ed.), Interdisciplinary perspectives on im/politeness, 71–90. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael, Catrin Norrby & Jane Warren. 2009. Language and human relations: Styles of address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fremer, Maria. 2015. At the cinema: The Swedish ‘du-reform’ in advertising films. In Catrin Norrby & Camilla Wide (eds.), Address practice as social action: European perspectives, 54–74. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuller, Janet. 2005. The uses and meanings of the female title Ms. American Speech 80 (2). 180–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Jane. 1998. “Today there is no respect”: Nostalgia, “respect,” and oppositional discourse in Mexicano (Nahuatl) language ideology. In Bambi B. Schieffelin, Kathryn A. Woolard & Paul Kroskrity (eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory, 68–86. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Isosävi, Johanna & Hanna Lapplainen. 2015. First names in Starbucks: A clash of cultures? In Catrin Norrby & Camilla Wide (eds.), Address practice as social action: European perspectives, 97–118. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jucker, Andreas & Irma Taavitsainen. 2002. Diachronic perspectives on address term systems: Introduction. In Taavitsainen and Jucker (eds.), Diachronic perspectives on address term systems, 1–25. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, Robin Tolmach. 1973. The logic of politeness; or, minding your p’s and q’s. In Claudia Corum, T. Cedric Smith-Stark & Ann Weiser (eds.), Papers from the ninth regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 292–305. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005a. Civility and its discontents. In Robin T. Lakoff & Sachiko Ide (eds.), Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness, 23–43. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005b. The politics of nice. Journal of Politeness Research 1 (2). 173–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillian, Donna L. 1993. Ms. Revisited: She’s still a bitch, only now she’s older! Papers of the annual meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association 19. 149–61.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Locher, Miriam A. & Richard J. Watts. 2005. Politeness theory and relational work. Journal of Politeness Research 1 (1). 9–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murray, Thomas E. 1997. Perception of Ms.-titled women: Evidence from the American Midwest. Onomastica Canadiana 79. 73–96.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nevala, Minna. 2002. Family first: Address and subscription formulae in English family correspondence from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. In Irma Taavitsainen & Andreas H. Jucker (eds.), Diachronic perspectives on address term systems, 147–176. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norrby, Catrin, Camilla Wide, Jenny Nilsson & Jan Lindström. 2015. Address and interpersonal relationships in Finland-Swedish and Sweden-Swedish service encounters. In Catrin Norrby and Camilla Wide (eds.), Address practice as social action: European perspectives, 75–96. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, Andrew J. & David Zeitlyn. 1995. The distribution of person-referring expressions in natural conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction 28 (1). 61–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold. 1974. Hey, Whatsyourname! In Michael W. La Galy, Robert A. Fox & Anthony Bruck (eds.), Papers from the tenth regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, 787–801. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Yusra, Kamaludin, Yuni Budi Lestari, Lalu Nurtaat, Ni Wayan Mira Susanti, Rizky Kurniawan Hoesnie & Baharuddin
2025. Address forms, social structures and social relations in postcolonial Sasak communities. Journal of Politeness Research 21:2 ► pp. 509 ff. DOI logo
Vismans, Roel
2023. Address and politeness. In It’s different with you [Topics in Address Research, 5], ► pp. 397 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue