摘要

    通常，称谓语大致分为亲属称谓和社交称谓两大类。当人们的关系随着社会的变化需要而不断调整时,社交称谓语较之亲属称谓语更明显表现出顺应这种新变化而进行的相应调整。因此,社交称谓语就带上了明显的时代性。因历史、环境、语言、和价值观等因素的不同，各国之间的社交称谓语也不尽相同。在跨文化交际中, 汉英文化差异和文化冲突主要表现在社交称谓上。比如，在与母语是英语的外国人交流时，受思维方式以及本身语言习惯的影响，中国人极易将自己意识中中文的社交称谓语直接翻译成对等的英文，由此会引来一些不必要的误解，而英美国家人们在使用中文时也常犯此错误。同时，社交称谓语作为传递的第一个信息，对于接下来的交流有很大的影响。所以社交称谓语的使用不当可能会引起某些问题或使人陷入尴尬。本文以中美两国为例，主要集中探讨分析中英社会称谓语的不同，常见的语用失误以及通过霍夫斯德跨文化模型分析导致这些失误的原因，从而帮助英语学习者在跨文化语境中更好、更顺畅地交流。

关键词：社交称谓语；跨文化交际；语用失误；霍夫斯德跨文化模型

Abstract

    Generally speaking, address terms can be basically divided into two categories: kinship terms and social address terms. Compared to kinship terms, social address terms embody more obvious adjustments conforming to new changes when the relationships between people vary according to the needs of social changes. Therefore, social terms of address bear distinct characteristics of modernization. The social address terms diverge greatly on the condition that the history, environment, language, and values in each country are different. In cross-cultural communication, the cultural differences and conflicts primarily reflect on social address terms. For example, when communicating with foreigners whose first language is English, Chinese people are prone to translate word for word the Chinese, which may lead to a series of misunderstandings. And western people are likely to make similar mistakes when using Chinese social address terms. Meanwhile, as the first information sent to others, terms of address play an important role in the following communication. Improper applications of social terms of address might cause embarrassments and problems. Taking China and USA for example, the paper mainly focuses on the differences between English and Chinese social terms of address, common pragmatic failures and causes for pragmatic failures via the Hofstede Model, so as to help learners communicate more fluently in cross-cultural communication.

Key words: social address terms; cross-cultural intercourse; pragmatic failure; the Hofstede model