Under the premise that form of address and personal names are important elements in our daily conversations, this thesis seeks to contribute to the interdisciplinary field of
language and human studies by investigating address forms used by the aboriginal people and the naming systems. In particular, the three groups of interest are Bunun, Amis, and Seediq.
As in-depth studies of personal names and address forms have not been pursued before, the findings of this study can enrich our understanding of the aboriginal language as well as the Taiwan aboriginal culture. By comparing the groups, the study also highlights the unique differences between the groups. The examination of address forms of aboriginal groups lends insights into the social system of the aboriginal and their cultural backgrounds. It reveals how factors such as age, gender, and occupation affect their use. In addition, personal names and naming practices of Taiwan aboriginal tribe vary from group to group. Towards this end, the investigator seeks to find whether aboriginal personal names have meaning and if so, how that might reflect on the culture. In general, the study on aboriginal form of address and personal names will reveals how they connect individuals to their cultures and communities.
1.4 An overview of three aboriginal groups
This section provides an overview of the three aboriginal groups of interest in this study.
Amis, Bunun, and Seediq are three of 16 Austronesian languages spoken in Taiwan (Formosa)
today. Briefly, the following provides some background information (e.g., geographical, demographical and social) about the three groups.
Traditionally, Bunun lived in the mountainous interior of Taiwan and small family groups roamed the Central Mountain Range (De Busser, 2009). In the 17th century, Bunun was regarded as a “Goshan Tribe” living in high mountains and was called “the guard of Mt.
Yushan” since people treated it as a holy mountain. Unlike Bunun tribes, Amis tribe is mainly situated on the plains instead of mountains. They were originally called Pangcah
‘humans’ before they were called Amis (“Northern people”) by Puyuma (台灣原住民族資訊 資源網, 2015). Until now, most of Amis refer themselves as Pangcah, and only Farangaw Amis (馬蘭阿美族) use the name, Amis (台灣原住民族資訊資源網, 2015). Finally, Seediq became the 14th Taiwanese aboriginal groups in 2008. The Seediq people originated from Truwan (德鹿灣), in Nantou county (原住民族委員會, 2010) and one of their unique cultural feature is their face tattoo; they believe that their spirits can become immortal with tattoos.
One of the three aboriginal groups, the Amis is the biggest in terms of demographics (based on the data collected on March, 2017) while that of Seediq is the smallest. The estimated populations of the three aboriginal groups are as follows: Amis, 177000; Bunun, 50000; Seedqi, 10000 people (台灣原住民族資訊資源網, 2015).
Geographically, the Bunun people—divided into six subgroups based on their
surnames—are scattered throughout Kaohsiung, Nantou, Hualien to Taitung. Most of them live in the areas of Central Mountain Range, in particular in Nantou county. The Amis is distributed in the east of the Central Mountain Range, areas including Hualien and Taitung counties. Most of Amis live in the East coast plains and only few live in the mountains. In
addition, Amis can be divided into three subgroups such as North, Central, and South Amis (原住民族委員會, 2010). Some Amis groups even scattered to Pingtung County such as Manzhou (滿洲), and Mudan (“牡丹”) townships. Finally, originating from Nantou county, the Seediq live in the Central and East Taiwan. Seediq is divided into East and West Seediq by the Central Mountain Range. The distribution of East Seediq is in the areas of Hualien mountains while West Seediq is distributed at Nantou county. The geographic information of three aboriginal groups is shown in Figure 2 (中華民國原住民知識經濟發展協會, 2016).
Figure 2. Geographic distribution of Taiwanese 16 aboriginal groups
The social hierarchy and religious practices of three aboriginal groups also play an important role. There are six clans in Bunun groups, and each clan is based on the patrilineal family.
Thus, the most elderly man is the leader of the family and the male elderly dominates the whole tribe. In Bunun, there might be three male elderlies who take charge of the ceremony
and tribal governance. The Bunun believe that all creatures, whether alive or not, are spiritual beings, and they have different ceremonies to celebrate their god. In contrast to Bunun, Amis is famous for their matrilineal society and harvest festival. Woman is the leader of each family and men have to live in their wives’ houses after marriage. However, Amis men still engages in hunting and politics, while women mainly take charge of housework and farming (原住民族資訊資源網, 2015). Similar to Bunun, the Amis also believe in the spirits of all creatures and value their names which presents the spirits of name bearers. As for Seediq, four groups based on their different functions are noted. The first group is composed of people with kinship relationship, the second holds the ceremony, the third deals with crime and safety, and the fourth is in charge of hunting. In particular, people in the first group will choose one man as their leader as needed. To reiterate, one of unique features of Seediq culture is facial tattoos. The Seediq think they can be recognized by their ancestors with tattoos when they die.
1.5 Research questions and the organization of the thesis
The three Taiwan aboriginal groups in consideration all have a rich culture and language that are valuable for us to learn and to preserve. The study aims to contribute to aboriginal language research by investigating and comparing their forms of address and naming systems.
Specifically, the study furthers our understanding of the relationship between the use of address forms and naming practices and their cultural backgrounds. In summary, this study seeks to answer the four research questions:
i. What kinds of forms of address are used to refer to reciprocal and nonreciprocal relationships among the aboriginals of the three groups?
ii. Do factors such as gender, age, social status, and occupation play important roles in
the use of aboriginal forms of address?
iii. In terms of address forms, what variations can be observed within the groups?
iv. What kinds of meanings (e.g., nature, personality, gender), if any, do aboriginal personal names encode? Relevantly how they reflect the name bearer’s cultural backgrounds?
The thesis is organized as below. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical background of the topic including some relevant issues related to address forms and names. The research goals as well as an overview of the three aboriginal groups are presented. Chapter 2 highlights some relevant literature concerning the study of address forms and personal names across cultures. Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in this thesis. Chapter 4 provides the findings and a comparative analysis of aboriginal forms of address and the naming systems of the three groups. Finally, in Chapter 5, concluding remarks concerning the issues and
suggestions for future research will be discussed.
Chapter Two: Literature Review
This chapter reviews some works that illustrate the diverse ways that forms of address are manifested, in particular as used in non-English-speaking societies and cultures. Section 2.1 presents empirical studies of address forms in various discourse contexts. Section 2.2 presents studies of naming practices and the sociocultural meanings behind some of the names. Finally, in Section 2.3, a brief summary of this chapter is provided.
2.1 On forms of address across cultures 2.1.1 Oyetade (1995)
Oyetade (1995) indicated different functions of Yoruba address forms in the
conversation. In Yoruba society, names are often used as address forms including kinship terms, titles, personal names, and surnames. In the non-reciprocal patterns, title and surname are common address forms. For example, a young subordinate may address his boss with title and surname (TSN), and they get either first name or surname alone in return. Also, the king of Yoruba is addressed as bàbá ‘Father’ or kábíyèsí ‘King’ by the chief, who is inferior to the king, and the king addresses the chief with a title alone, without showing any respect. In the family, children address their parents with kinship terms and receive personal names.
However, it’s notable that age, which is more important than rank, change this norm. For instance, an older subordinate would address his young boss with TSN and the boss returns the same address form; moreover, the chief addresses an elderly man with courtesy by using kinship terms such as bàbá ‘Father’. On the other hand, in reciprocal patterns, personal names which express solidarity and intimacy are used often. Personal names are used reciprocally among friends, close associates, and members of the same peer (or age) group (Oyetade, 1995). In the workplace, the reciprocal exchange of TSN is used between colleagues at the
initial stage. Then, the use of mutual exchange of personal name (PN) is used after they are familiar with each other (Oyetade, 1995). Within the family, siblings address each other with personal name directly and so do other children. There is a special type of address form, called Tekonym, was used between couples. Teknonym is described as a special category of names characterized by the combination of father or mother’s name plus the personal name of a child, usually the first-born (F/M +PN = TKM). For instance, the husband addresses his wife as ìyá X ‘mother of X’, and his wife will do so, in turn. Salami (2004) indicated that Teknonym is typically used in informal contexts by spouses who preferred it to first name (FN) as an address term if they have children. Married couples prefer addressing each other with Teknonym rather than FN. Therefore, in Yoruba, address forms are complex semantic systems that deal with the social relationship between interlocutors.
2.1.2 Keshavarz (2001)
Keshavarz (2001) indicated two variables including social distance and the degree of formality of social context result in varied usage of forms of address. In Persian, two personal pronouns /to/ and /s̆oma/, which are used to refer to a single person, indicates different social distance. The pronoun /to/ in Persian indicates intimacy; whereas, /s̆oma/ shows distance. In his study, he investigated the use of /to/ and /s̆oma/ in informal and formal contexts. In informal familiar contexts, age and social distance are important factors that determines the use of /to/ and /s̆oma/. When addressing family members like grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother, /s̆oma/ is used more often than /to/ whereas the pronoun /to/ is used more often between spouses (Keshavarz, 2001). In formal contexts, the frequency of using /s̆oma/
increases even in the case of addressing younger brothers and sisters and children under 12.
Here, gender instead of age is a crucial factor in the use of address forms in formal contexts.
When addressing people of the opposite sex, people tend to be politer and more deferential because of the social distance.
2.1.3 Kim-Renaud (2001)
In some East Asian languages, honorific markers are commonly found. An honorific is a grammatical form that shows respect or social deference. In Korean, for example, different grammatical honorific forms are used based on age, parentage, social status, and sex
(Kim-Renaud, 2001). In particular, honorific marking is revealed in nouns. For instance, the suffix nim, which literally means “honorable person”, is attached to the noun to represent the referent of the noun is socially superior to the interlocutor (Kim and Sells, 2007). The noun Uysa-nim ‘doctor-Hon’ is used to refer to the higher social status of doctors. Also, the suffix nim can be attached to the kinship term when the referent is socially superior to the speaker.
For example, the kinship terms such as son and daughter are attached with the suffix nim as atu-nim ‘son- Hon’ and tta-nim ‘daughter- Hon’. Even if the addressee is younger than the speaker, the honorific suffix nim can still be used. In western address systems, a title like
“President” or “Dr.”, which represents a person’s occupational position or an academic achievement can serve as an honorific suffix (Kim- Renaud, 2001). Different titles are used based on the addressee’s age and gender. For example, a young Korean male is addressed with the title kwun ‘Mr.’ and a young female is addressed with the title yang ‘Ms.’ In terms of the address form to refer to an older woman with respectable social position, a title yesa (lit. “a lady scholar or writer”) is used (Kim-Renaud, 2001).
On the other hand, the use of kinship terms such as ‘elder sister/ brother’, ‘aunt’, and
‘uncle’ express the intimacy between speakers and the addressee. The expression of these kinship terms shows that the addressee is seen as a family member, who deserves respect,
love, and care (Kim-Renaud, 2001). For example, a sweet elderly lady may feel close to the speaker when addressed as acwnmenim ‘respectable aunt’. In summary, it is a common practice to use references instead of pronouns for people in Korea. In addition to expressing deference, Korean kinship terms show the speaker’s respect and intimacy to a person.
2.1.4 Iragiliati (2006)
Different forms of address are needed to communicate effectively within a specific institutional setting. This was shown in Iragiliati (2006), which examined medical discourse between doctors and patients in East Java, Indonesia. Conveying information correctly to patients by using the proper terms of address has a direct influence on the success of the medication itself. He indicated the importance of politeness in relation to the use of terms of address in doctor-patient interaction and emphasized local cultural values in the formulation of the curriculum for the Indonesian Medical Faculty and Nurse Program. Data from Iragiliati (2006) included interactions between the medical students and patients in the follow-up sessions in the wards at the pediatric and obstetric departments. The results of Iragiliati’s study showed that the use of different address forms followed Brown and Levinson’s
(1987/2004) politeness strategies and Kartomihardjo’s (1970) use of terms of address seen in the kinship system of Indonesia. In the pediatric department, positive face is achieved
through closeness by the use of intimate forms of address such as personalization to
acknowledge intimacy (i.e., Javanese version of “Ma’am,” Buk, to a patient’s mother and the Indonesian version of “Dear,” saying, to the patient) or the use of social identity markers to establish solidarity by using the Indonesian version of “Ma’am” (Bu) to an elderly woman or the Javanese version of “Sir” (Pak) to an elderly male (Iragiliati, 2006). Negative face is achieved through impersonal forms of address and by acknowledging a lack of common
status (i.e., the Javanese version of “little brother,” Dimas, and calling names with truncated forms using the last syllable in a name, like “Mad” for “Ahmad”). In the obstetric department, positive face was achieved by acknowledging intimacy in Indonesian (i.e., Bu for “Ma’am”) or the use of social identity markers to establish solidarity through Indonesian kinship system (i.e., the Indonesian version of “Ma’am,” Bu). In summary, different forms of address were used to achieve politeness and soften the interaction in medical discourse.
2.1.5 Burt (2009)
Burt (2009) indicated that there is a social semantic connection of names of
Hmong-Americans. For Hmong-Americans, they usually name children after household objects or nature (Burt, 2009). The “strength” of names is determined by the meanings of names and parents will re-name the child if the name is not suitable to the child’s personality.
Hmong also regard the name as a protector which keep the child away from the spirits and parents would choose to name their children after the household objects. Thus, the social semantic connotation of names has a huge impact on the naming practice of
Hmong-Americans. In addition, the choice of maturity names for men and the choice of married name for women also reflects the social semantic connotation of Hmong names. In Hmong community, men obtain the honorary name or the maturity name after the marriage.
The maturity name is seen as the representatives of attending both sides of the family and thus it is usually an honorific which has the connotation of honor or maturity to the name bearer (Burt, 2009). For instance, the examples for maturity names are Fwm (“to revere, honor, respect), Tswv (“leader or master”), and Txawj (“educated, skillful, and able”) (Burt, 2009). For Hmong women, they prefer to choose a married name which reflect their birth clan membership for themselves after they marry and choose names which reflect Hmong
affiliation for their children (Burt, 2009). Thus, the change of names represents the change of life status of Hmong people.
2.1.6 Akindele (2013)
The various relationship dynamics encoded by address forms can also be seen in Sesotho, a language spoken in South Africa and Lesotho and the speakers of Sesotho are called Basotho. In an analysis of Sesotho forms of address by Akindele (2013), three
conclusions were drawn. First, the term TLN for formal occasion or setting was preferred for people conversing with an unfamiliar addressee or for subordinates. The only polite way of enacting social relationships at that level is the use of TLN. The person with the higher occupational status also has the privilege of being addressed by title plus last name (TLN) while addressing the other person by first name (FN). Second, the use of TFN, TLN, and Teknonym are favored outside the workplace in informal situations. As noted by Akindele (2013), address forms are used as a marker of familiarity and as an indicator of deference to the addressee. Third, Bosotho people prefer to use TFN, TLN, and Teknonym for married people with or without children in either face-to-face interactions or when they are being talked about. The reason is that the use of terms shows familiarity to the parties involved, as well as respect for the person addressed. As the informants explained, the use of first name and nickname is foreign to Bosotho culture since they do not reflect one’s social or economic status within the Bosotho cultural continuum, so they tend to be avoided (Akindele, 2013).
Furthermore, there is a different use of address forms between Bosotho women and men.
Women used TKM and TLN more than men did. Akindele attributes the reason to the fact that women took more pride in being addressed with TKM and TLN since these titles enhance their social status within the society. This also accounted for TKM being used as
personal names for women. Consequently, being addressed with these two forms gives the women more respect than being addressed with FN or nicknames. In summary, for Bosotho people, factors such as gender, occupational status, and age are considered when using different address forms to show politeness and deference.
2.1.7 Aliakbari and Toni (2013)
The address form schema that Iranians use to refer to their addressees also informs speakers’ cultural backgrounds. With high-frequency of the use of honorifics in Persian conversations, it is observed that courteous and humble interactions are striking features of Persian address system (Aliakbari & Toni, 2013). For instance, ’Sir’ and
‘Lady’ are used to honor and dignify the addressee. In addition, those honorifics can be used with job titles (i.e., ‘Sir Captain’) or with first name and last name, depending on where communication takes place. Occupational terms are very common in Persian address system (Aliakbari & Toni, 2013). Persians can use different job
‘Lady’ are used to honor and dignify the addressee. In addition, those honorifics can be used with job titles (i.e., ‘Sir Captain’) or with first name and last name, depending on where communication takes place. Occupational terms are very common in Persian address system (Aliakbari & Toni, 2013). Persians can use different job