The Influences Of Terms Of Address

For a good month, I have done ethnographic research on terms of address and why people use the ones that they do around specific people as well as in certain situations. At first I didn't know that this is what my research would be based around. However, right away I realized that because so many terms of address are commonly used in certain situations and around specific people, that there were factors that were influencing it to happen. After doing my journals, which were a total of 14 pages, two concepts really stood out to me in relating to this issue. These concepts were high respect that individuals have for each other as well as the kind of relationship people have with each other.

There were so many situations were people were in authority and power over me or other people and I found these people to have high respect for people lower than them. With other people in authority, I found that people lower than them in power were the ones to have high respect for them. This issue of power was also very common in the Brown and Gilman's reading. One thing that always stood true about certain interactions that I observed is that people interacting had a certain kind of relationship with one another. Some of the time it was a close relationship such as a father-son or a loving relationship or a weaker relationship between two people who haven't known each other that long. I found out that we like to address people that we have a good relationship with special terms instead of their names. For people whom we don't have a close relationship with and don't know as well, we surprisingly will use terms such as "Buddy" or "Friend." Basso also had a reading that explained to the issues of using these kinds of terms around unfamiliar people. Overall in the course of my study, the concepts of high respect that people have with each other and the type of relationship they have with one another explains interesting and valid reasons why people are influenced to use the terms of address they do in their interactions with others.

My observations were done about twice a week from the beginning of March until the beginning of April. There were many methods I used to collect and analyze the data during my observations. In collecting the data, I watched and listened to random individuals addressing other people whether they did it right away or during a conversation. I also listened to people talk about a person who wasn't present and would listen on how they would address them. I even got into situations where many people could address me and I was able to address them as well. In listening to myself and other people addressing one another, I also paid close attention to the tone of voice that was used.

Because I have a great memory, I did not bother to write down any notes down until the end of the day before I went to bed. I wrote the notes in the form of journals and really made a lot of interesting points and deep analyses on the notes. For example, I analyzed why I thought a certain person addressed me or someone else the way they did. I also reflected on the way certain people that I knew addressed me and other people form the past. Finally, near the end of my observations, I interviewed my dad and asked him questions that related to my findings and the analyses I made.

There were many terms of address that were used in situations that I felt were influenced by a high level of respect that someone had for another person. One good example of this is the way the conductor was being influenced to use certain terms of address because of his high respect for the passengers on the train I was on. When he individually asked me for my ticket that I did not have out at the time, he asked me, "Ticket sir?" He also asked a woman a moment later for her ticket by asking her, "Ticket mam?" The conductor was obviously very kind with his word choice and tone when addressing the lady and I. I came to a conclusion that the reason he addressed us in a kind way and tone that he did was because he was in a higher position of authority. In my life, people who have been in a higher position of authority have always addressed people on the lower end with certain polite kinder terms. For example, a lady who is a police officer near my friends house will address my friend and I in a polite way while we walk by her house as she says, "Hello gentlemen."

I feel the reason why it's important for a conductor or anyone in high authority to address people with less power in a kind way is because the people will not feel as intimidated and will feel more at ease. Listening to a conductor or someone in higher authority is intimidating to begin with because they are controlling the way you feel and are ultimately controlling your actions, such as causing you to take out a ticket. Because the conductor has the element of power over the passenger, the passenger knows he must listen to the conductor and do what they say, because if they don't, the passenger can get in trouble or be kicked off the train. A passenger would not be too intimidated if the conductor isn't polite while addressing them, but they would have more intimidation in the back of their minds. The good thing is that conductor or anyone in higher authority knows deep in their minds that the people on the lower end have intimidation toward them. Therefore, most of these higher authority people such as a conductor, will try to be kind when addressing people on the lower end. This states why the terms of address that some high authority people use are influenced by the high level of respect they have for people at a lower status.

Another example of how a high level of respect influences the way a person addresses someone takes place inside families including mine. In this case, I paid attention on how I addressed my parents the one day. As usual I addressed my father as "Dad" when I tried to get his attention so he could fix my video game system. When my mother walked in from work, I addressed her the usual way when I said, "Hi mom." My brother and sister have always addressed them this way as well. Even all my friends including my girlfriend and any one that I know will address their parents as dad, mom, mother, mommy, etc. My mom and dad even call my grand parents mom and dad.

People not only use these certain terms such as mom and dad to refer to their parents, but they also use certain terms to refer to anyone in a bigger position of power. I found that I referred to my teachers such as Fatima Hafiz as "Professor Hafiz" and Isabelle Chang as "Dr. Chang." Other students addressed them in this way too. Not once have I heard others or myself address this professor or Dr. by their first names.