Intercultural differences: varieties of address strategies in a British academic setting

Address forms are fundamental to defining and negotiating human relationships. Their use enables people to identify themselves as part of a social group, to express common ground or degree of social distance with their interlocutor, to evaluate their addressee, and establish the kind of speech event they are in. Terms of address are closely linked to one’s cultural value system. Due to migration, travel, new technologies and globalisation, languages and their address systems are increasingly in contact (Clyne, 2009). At a university setting people from different parts of the world meet and express their social standing, ethnic and cultural belonging, and other aspects of themselves through an exchange of address forms. This work investigates the norms of address used by students when addressing the teaching staff at the University of Huddersfield in England. It examines these norms as professed by students and considers possible salient variables such as cultural background, gender and length of time as a student in this setting which may affect students’ use of address forms. The work discusses the norms with a particular focus on the similarities and differences in those employed by British and non-British students. The analysis is also focused on the interpersonal implications of address forms for phenomena such as politeness, appropriateness, and face. The discussion is carried out over topics such as students’ motivation and preferences in address forms, the implied meaning of these address forms, and the academic staff’s evaluation of the students and their preferences in address terms.