Terms of address in Chinese

Abstract

In this paper, we first present the rationale behind editing the present Special Issue dedicated to Chinese terms of address. We argue that conventionally speakers of Chinese prefer using terms of address in many interactional contexts, while personal pronouns – in particular the standard second person ni used without an accompanying term of address – are often perceived as face-threatening. We also argue that, while historical Chinese terms of address are very important to study because they influenced the development of honorifics in other East Asian linguacultures, present-day terms of address are of as much academic interest as their historical counterparts. At the end of this paper, we overview the contents of the Special Issue.