Філологічні науки / 7. Мова, мовлення, мовна комунікація

Kulak Khrystyna

Lviv National Polytechnic University

Contrastive analysis of informal form of address in Ukrainian and English

A form of address is an element of linguistic etiquette, which primarily indicates the social relations that are established in the communicative act [5]. Anthropocentric and communicative approach [1, 2] to language led to increased attention of scientists to cultural issues of national identity in general. Cross-culture communication is of no wonder nowadays, that is why learning properly to address people of different culture is of great importance [4]. Contrary to formal form of address area the informal one has not been studied good, while modern culture develops rapidly and so the language and lexicon with it. Considering mentioned fact the research described is of particular interest for comparatists and it may help language learners in their study of target etiquette and culture.

The aim of my research is to analyse and compare informal forms of address in English and Ukrainian. The objects are those forms in Ukrainian and English.

When talking to someone of title, there are certain conventions that should be followed in a form of address.  It is courteous and respectful to properly honour a person of title. In particular, forms of address may be considered in the theory of communicative acts. Then the treatment is understood as one of the acts of speech [3, p.31]. Generally all formal forms of address in English may be divided into ten groups: common titles (Miss, Ms, Mr, Mrs), formal titles (Sir, Madam, Lady or Lord), academic titles (Dr, Prof), religious titles (Bro, Sr, Fr, His Holiness, His Grace, His Excellency etc.), uncommon and historical titles (Master, Esquire), diplomatic titles (The Honorable, His Most Reverend Excellency), local government titles (The Right Honourable, The Right Worshipful), legislative bodies titles (Senator, The Honourable Member), judicial titles (His Lordship, Her Ladyship) and monarchic titles (His/Her Majesty, His/Her Highness).

Informal forms of address in English may be divided into common forms and forms of affection. Casual or very close relationships require an informal form of address: First name (friends, students, children); Miss/Mr + first name (sometimes used by dance or music teachers or childcare workers).

When addressing a child, a romantic partner, or a close friend or family member (usually younger) people often use these terms of endearment, also known as "pet names": honey, dear, sweetie, love, darling, babe or baby (usually to romantic partner), Pal (father or grandfather calls male child), buddy or bud (very informal between friends or adult-to-child; can be seen as negative), mate (male-to-male addressing), sweetheart (someone who is kind-hearted, nice, sweet, great person, personality, lovely to be around and just a great friend), duckie (British term of endearment for someone who is sweet and innocent), bro or brother (companion, friend, typically used by and to individuals of african – american heritage), sister (a close woman friend or companion), cutie (a charming girl), guys (friends), fella (a fellow).

In Ukrainian we can see the same types of informal forms of address: сommon and very informal or forms of affeсtion. Commonly addressed in the Ukrainian language are friends, well-known people. Then a form is represented only with the first name in voсative сase (Лесю, Іване). Appositions such as: друже/ подруго, приятелю/ приятелько may be used as well.

A lovely, beloved person may usually be addressed with: коханий/ кохана,

любий/люба, любонько, любочко, любуню, милий/мила, дорогий/дорога, красуню, красунечко, красеню, сердененько, сонечко, місяченьку, зіронько, голубчику/голубонько, пташко, ластівочко, горличко, зозулько, кохання моє, квіточко.

The Ukrainian language have in its lexicon special forms to address relatives:

мамо / мамочко / мамонько / мамуню / мамусю / мамусечко / мамусенько / мамунечко / мамцю / мамуньцю / матінко / матіночко / матусенько / неню / ненько / ненечко (to a mother), батьку / тату / татоньку / таточку / татусю / няню (to a father), бабусю / бабуню / бабунечко / бабцю / бабко / бабо (to a grandmother), дідусю / дідуню / дідунечку / діду (to a grandfather), сину / синку / синочку / синоньку (to a son), донечко / доню / донцю / доненько (to a daughte), тітко / тітонько / вуйно / стрийно / стриянко / вуянко (to an aunt), дядьку / дядечку / вуйку / стрийку (to an unсle), братово / сестро / сестрицe / сестричко / сестронько (to a sister or sister-in-law), нанашко / нанушку (до хрещених), шваґре (to a godparent or brother-in-law), невісточко / невістко / зятю / зятьку (to a сhild-in law), онучко / онучку (to a grandсhild), дружино / дружинонько / ладо / ладонько (to a wife).

Having thoroughly examined the area of informal address in Ukrainian and English I have discovered following peculiarities in their usage. The former has more diminutival suffixed forms, whiсh originate usually from the names of positively regarded in that culture wonders, creatures and animals (місяченьку, зіронько, сонечко, голубчику / голубонько, пташко, ластівочко, горличко, зозулько), rarely from the names of plants or flowers (квіточко, лілейко). The English language has no similar trait. There exist some diminutive forms (babe, baby), thus it can not be compared with the amount of such forms in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian language is strongly suffixed and this feature has been greatly reflected on the informal forms of address. The degree of affection may be measured with the gradual addition of suffixes (мамцю / мамуньцю, невістко / невісточко). In both languages are present forms serving to address beloved people or closely related people with great affection (dear, darling, love, коханий, мила, дорога). In the English language forms of informal address are usually created on the basis of relationship between people (buddy, bro, guys, fella) and in Ukrainian there exist equal forms (друже, приятелько). The English language has also some forms originated from sensation of taste (honey, sweetie, sweetheart), when the Ukrainian one has only one such denotation (солоденька). The one more similar way to address people in both cultures is to address them with the first name. Thus it is well worth to mention that the Ukrainian language has vocative case, which is used exactly for addressing people. English does not has so many different denotations for family and relatives as Ukrainian does and that is a notable distinction in the area of informal manner of address.

The amount of informal forms of address if to take into account this research is bigger in Ukrainian than in English – 33 and 16 respeсtively.

References:

1. Habermas, Jürgen (1984) [1981]. Theory of Communicative Action Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society (Book). Translated by Thomas A. McCarthy. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.

2. Mitchell, Rosamond (1994). "The communicative approach to language teaching". In Swarbick, Ann. Teaching Modern Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 33–42.

3. Грицева А.П., Українська ділова мова: Навчальний посібник. - Київ: ЦУЛ, 2003. - 532 с.

4. Мальцева K.C.// Наукові записки. Спеціальний випуск : у двох частинах / Національний університет “Києво-Могилянська академія”. – К. : КМ “Academia”, 2002. – Том 20. – Частина 1. – С. 124–129.

5. Шеломенцев В. М. Етикет і сучасна культера спілкування / В. М. Шеломенцев. – 2-е вид. – К. : Лібра, 2003. – 416 с.