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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 230

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

‘I have been properly brought up.’ Changing forms of address in Dutch

Authors: Vismans, Roel
Submitted by: Vismans, Roel (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)

This paper reports on research into the use of Dutch forms of address (i.e. the 2^nd-person pronouns u and je/jij) among students in the Netherlands and their parents. The data were collected in January and February 2011 through a questionnaire in which respondents were asked which pronoun they used to address a variety of persons. They were also asked to comment on their use of address forms, especially in situations where they would sometimes use u and sometimes je/jij. The focus of this paper is on the qualitative analysis of these comments, rather than a (statistical) interpretation of the quantitative data. The analysis is framed in terms of a recent model developed by Clyne et al. (2009) whose work was based on detailed research into address in English, French, German and Swedish. Thus, we are also able to compare modern use of Dutch address forms with that in a number of neighbouring European languages. Finally, in an attempt to see if anything has changed in the Dutch use of address in the last two decades, a comparison will also be made with Vermaas (2002), whose data go back to 1992-93.

References

Clyne, Michael, Catrin Norrby and Jane Warren. 2009. Language and Human Relations. Styles of Address in Contemporary Language. Cambridge: CUP

Vermaas, J.A.M.. 2002. Veranderingen in de Nederlandse aanspreekvormen van de dertiende t/m de twintigste eeuw. Utrecht: LOT