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The usages of kinship

address forms amongst
nonkin in mandarin
Chinese: The extension of
family solidarity
a
Yongyi Wu
a
International Exchange Office , East China
Normal University , Shanghai, China
Published online: 14 Aug 2008.

To cite this article: Yongyi Wu (1990) The usages of kinship address

forms amongst nonkin in mandarin Chinese: The extension of
family solidarity, Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10:1, 61-88, DOI:
10.1080/07268609008599432

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07268609008599432

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 Australian Journal of Linguistics 10 (1990), 61-88. Printed in Australia.

THE USAGES OF KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS AMONGST

NON-KIN IN MANDARIN CHINESE:
THE EXTENSION OF FAMILY SOLIDARITY

Yongyi Wu

1. INTRODUCTION
This paperi focuses on the vocative usages of kinship terms amongst non-
kin, not referring to their designative usages (vocative kinship terms are
those used in face-to-face address while designatives are those used to
refer to someone else). In many languages, kinship terms are only used to
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address family members and relatives. It is also well-known that some

languages employ what we regard as kinship terms for use as address
terms for non-kin (Wardhaugh 1986:262). For example, in the Nuer
language, young men would address their unrelated seniors gwa 'father'
(Evans-Pritchard 1964:221 and 223). The kinship terms in Chinese can
also be used to address non-kin although, unlike the Nuer language,
Chinese bdba 'father' is never used to address others except one's own
father, or sometimes stepfather.
In his fine and detailed description of Chinese terms of address, Chao
(1956) has discussed the usages of address terms for nonrelatives whom
he divides into three categories (stranger, friend and lower in social
status) on the basis of interpersonal relations and social status. For
example, title alone and title with surname or courtesy name could be
used to address a stranger; Vdo 'old' or xiao 'little' with surname, and
courtesy name alone to address a friend; interjection words eh! or weil
'hey!' etc. to address a child or someone lower in social station. The
usages of kinship address forms among non-kin, the topic of this paper,
are however not included in Chao's description. In this paper, I will
describe their various usages among non-kin and attempt to establish some
patterns. I would argue the similar point of view given in Ti (1985:91).
He just states that among fellow villagers or townsmen and neighbours,
kinship terms can be used to address seniors. But my data show that in
Chinese, not only seniors, but juniors, even strangers can also be
addressed by kinship terms.
It is true that the address norms in China are indeed extremely
complicated (cf. Fang & Heng, 1983:506). There are many social factors
which influence the choice of address forms. I will explain the semantic
meaning and social context of the usages of kinship terms among non-kin,

1
I would like to express my appreciation to Dr D. Bradley and Dr H. Chappell for
their valuable comments and suggestions on the drafts of this paper.
 YONGYI WU

proposing a hypothesis of the extension of family solidarity, which makes

a network of social communication. Data collected from spoken and
written materials2 are used to support this hypothesis.
Compared with English address forms (Brown & Ford 1964; Ervin-
Tripp 1969; Oatey 1987), using kinship terms to address non-kin can be
considered one of the typical characteristics of Chinese. For example,
Brown & Ford (1964:234) indicate 'Kinship terms of address are also
relational language, but they constitute a restricted language of
relationship since most dyads that might be created in American would
not call for any sort of kinship term.' In English, 'father', 'son' and
'sister' are heard as address forms in religious and hospital domains, but
the meaning of these terms is already transferred. In Chinese, choosing
correct kinship terms to address others in the light of different social
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contexts is also an important part of a person's communicative ability.

2. VOCATIVE KINSHIP TERMS USED FOR NON-KIN

There are several strategies of address in Chinese from which to choose in

communication. If speaker and addressee are strangers, that is, they do
not know one another, the speaker may choose tdngzhi 'comrade'3 for
address (Scotton & Zhu 1983, Fang & Heng 1983). For example:

(1) Tdngzhi, (fing win, ddo Ndnjing lit zenme zdu?

comrade, please ask arrive Nanjing road how go
'Comrade, could you tell me the way to Nanjing Road?'

Shlfu 'master' is another term which was very popular during the ten
years of the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), while xiansheng
'mister' and xitiojie 'miss' are also alternatives (Chao 1956; DeFrancis
1975; Fang & Heng 1983), which have been revived following the Open
Policy of the Chinese government since 1978 although they almost
disappeared from public life after Liberation in 1949.
If speaker and addressee are acquaintances or friends, the speaker may
use title alone or title + surname as well as Iho 'old' and xifto 'little' +
surname or simply the given name for address (Chao 1956; Fang & Heng
1983). For example:

2
The data are collected from written materials including short stories, novels,
textbooks and magazines, the titles of which are given in the references, and from
films, T.V.programs and actual speech among Chinese people which I wrote down
after hearing them.
3
Tngzh 'comrade' which was widely used is being less used these days after
xinsheng 'Mister' and xiojie 'Miss' have been revived in public life.
62
 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

(2) Xiao Zhang, ylwusub zdi nar?

little Zhang clinic be-in/at where
'Xiao Zhang, where is the clinic?'

Besides the address forms above, significantly there are also many
kinship terms in Chinese which can be used to address non-kin, both
strangers and acquaintances:

(3) (An exchange between a girl who is a street cleaner and an old
woman)
G: Lao nainai, bu yong jian le, w6 sao bal
old grandma, not need pick-up PART, I sweep PART
'Old grandma, don't bother to pick them up. Let me sweep!'
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W: Ai. Guinil, xiixie nl!

INTERJ daughter, thank you
'Yes. Daughter, thank you!'

G: Lao nainai, zhe shi wd gai zuo de.

old grandma, this is I should do PART
'Old grandma, I've only done my duty.'
(4) (An elderly woman who is looking for her son's factory asks an
elderly man who is janitor of an institute)
W: Lao ge, jlchudngchang zdi nar a?
old elder bro. machine-tool-factory be-in/at where PART
'Old elder brother, where is the machine tool factory?'

M: Yd, too yuan ne, zdi da xl jiao nal

oh very far PART be-in/at outer west suburb PART
'Oh, far away, in the outer western suburbs!'

Lao saozi, nin cdng nar UM?

old sister-in-law, you from where come
'Old sister-in-law, where do you come from?'
Nin jia shi zdi jtchudngchang.
you family who be-in/at machine-tool-factory
'Which one in your family works at the machine tool factory?'

(5) (An elderly woman calls at her neighbor's, another elderly

woman's home) (the teknonymous usage is discussed below in
section 5.)
A: Saozi, wu - li you ren ma?
sister-in-law, room - inside have person INTERROG
'Sister-in-law, is there anyone in?'

63
 YONGYI WU
B: Yd, ta shenr ya, kuai wii li zud,
oh his aunt PART, quickly room inside sit-down
'Oh, his aunt, come in and sit down,'

jinr zentne zheme xidnzai a?

today why such leisure PART
'how come you're free today?'

Examples (3), (4) and (5) show us how two persons choose different
kinship terms to address each other according to age and sex.
Nevertheless, not all kinship terms can be used to address non-kin.
China has had several thousand years of feudal history. Family and
kinship relations always occupied a very important place in social life.
This has been inherited and has become a part of cultural tradition today.
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Within a family, everyone had and still has his/her proper place in order
of age and sex. This would be called zhtmg ydu ydu xii 'There is an order
between senior and junior' and ndn nti ydu bid 'There are differences
between man and woman'. A rigid hierarchy was one of the
characteristics of the family. It is also not surprising then that paternal
and maternal relatives had different degrees of social importance. A
woman lost her status in her own family after she got married, which
originally was lower than her brothers' in her own parents' eyes (sons are
far more important than daughters), and she had hardly any status in her
husband's family before she bore a son. She was regarded in her
husband's family as a waildirtn, a person from another place. By
consequence, the relatives of her own family had a lesser degree of
importance than those of her husband's family. These social facts are
reflected in the language, especially in the Chinese kinship term system,
and make it very complicated. For example, in Chinese, there are specific
terms for one's elder brother gege and younger brother didi; for one's
elder sister jiijie and younger sister meimei; for one's father's elder
brother bdbo and younger brother shushu. For one's father's
elder/younger sister, there is however no differentiation with only gugu
or guma; similarly for both one's mother's elder/younger brother jiiijiu
and for one's mother's elder/younger sister yi or ayl or yltria there is no
distinction made. Their spouses, of course, have corresponding terms.
Hence the terms for one's father's sisters, mother's brothers and sisters
are not differentiated for age. The possible explanation for this is that
one's father's sisters belong/will belong to their husbands' families as soon
as they get married. Since they move out of their own family and become
wdirin 'persons belonging to other families' or 'outsiders', the family
hierarchy is thus not strictly applied to them in terms of a fine
differentiation. As I have explained above, mothers are always wdildiren
'persons from another place', so the relatives of one's mother's family are
also less imporant than those of one's father's family. There are also no
64
 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

specific terms for them in terms of age. Nor do the spouses of one's
father's sisters or one's mother's brothers and sisters have any age
differentiation. But this does not mean there is no way to differentiate
their age. The numerals 'first', 'second', 'third' etc. can precede these
terms to show this meaning.
The following are simplified and revised tables of vocative kinship
terms based on the tables of Chao (1956) and Li (1987). The main reasons
for the revision are, first, in Li's tables, vocatives and designatives are not
distinguished and some of them are no longer used in spoken language in
mainland China, while others in current usage are not included; second,
many changes in usage of some of the vocatives have happened since
1949. Some old-fashioned usages have disappeared while some new usages
have arisen. For example, some designatives in Chao's tables are now
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widely used as vocatives, e.g. bdfil 'father's elder brother', shenzi 'wife of
father's younger brother', xibngdi 'younger brother', dimii 'younger
sister-in-law' (in Chao's tables, dimei is a designative because a woman
was not supposed to meet her husband's elder brother or elder male
cousin according to Chinese feudal tradition, consequently there was no
vocative for her, but Chao says, 'In modern families, where there is no
such limitation, the elder brother or male cousin will call his younger
brother's or cousin's wife dimei...' (1956: 230). In today's China, the use
of dimei as a vocative is widespread and can not be considered an
innovation.
In Chao's tables, daughter-in-law, wife of nephew (both wife of
brother's son and sister's son) would be addressed as shaonainai while
one's own wife would be addressed as taitai (before 1949, usually servants
called their mistress taitai, sometimes the husband in a family with high
social status or an intellectual's family would call his own wife taitai and
their friends used the form of surname of husband + taitai 'to address
her'). But now in mainland China, these usages have disappeared. There
are no specific vocatives for daughter-in-law and wife of nephew. They
can be addressed by the prefix xiao 'little' + surname or by the given
name or sometimes by pet name. A husband uses the given name or pet
name and the like to address his own wife.
The designatives meifu 'younger brother-in-law', irzi 'son', guinti
'daughter' and gicye 'son-in-law' and so on can sometimes now be heard as
vocatives; while zhizi 'brother's son' and zhintt 'brother's daughter' are
merely used as vocatives to address non-kin.
In Mandarin Chinese, mu 'mother' is more literary than ma 'mother'.
This explains why juma 'wife of mother's brother' is now used as a
vocative in spoken language instead oijilmu as the vocative according to
Chao. The new vocative forms guma. 'father's sister' and yima 'mother's
sister' have also come into use (in Chao's tables, there are no such
vocatives: gumft and yimU are both learned terms used in epistolary style
65
 YONGYI WU

or in scientific descriptions).
The main purpose of this paper is not to discuss the usages of vocative
kinship terms amongst kinsfolk but the usages amongst non-kin. In the
tables below, all kinship terms with an asterisk can be used to address
non-kin although they have different distributions: some of them are used
for strangers, some for acquaintances and some can be used for both
situations. They also show different patterns of usage and frequency. In
some situations, the different patterns show different degrees of
familiarity in terms of the personal relations between speaker and
addressee.
TABLE 1: FATHER'S FAMILY

Relation Male Vocative Female Vocative

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1. great-grandfather Sioyiye*
2. great-grandmother honbxnm.*

3. grandfather
4
yeye*, gonggong*

4. grandmother n&inai*,p6po*5

5. uncle (father's elder brother) daye*, bdbo*

ddbd*. bdju*
6. aunt (wife of father's ddnidng*rfdma*, bdmti*
elder brother)
7. uncle (father's shushu*
younger brother)
8. aunt (wife of father's s/i&nr*, shenshen*, sh&nn*
younger brother)
9. aunt (father's elder/ gu*. gugu*. guma
younger sister)
10. uncle (husband of gufu
father's sister)

4
In Chao's tables, some kinship terms are marked with a 'dial' for 'dialectal', e.g.
gnggong and ppo. He explains (1956:230), 'the alternative forms marked
"dial(ectal)", though not used in Peiping, are current in more southerly dialects,
sometimes representing a wider usage than the "standard" forms. This is one of the
few features of the Peiping dialect which has not attained national status.' This is
quite true. But nowadays, some of them or some usages of them have already
entered Mandarin Chinese. Dialectal terms gnggong and ppo as vocatives used to
address non-kin, have spread in Mandarin Chinese. For example, a child would
address an elderly man lo gnggong 'old grandfather' and an elderly woman lo
ppo.
5
gnggong and ppo have another meaning 'husband's father' and 'husband's
mother' besides the meaning 'grandfather' and 'grandmother'.
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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

TABLE 2: MOTHER'S FAMILY

Relation Male Vocative Female Vocative

1. grandfather waigong, laoye*

2. grandmother wdipd, laolao*

3. uncle (mother's elder/ jiujiu

younger brother)
4. aunt (wife of mother's jiiona
brother)
5. aunt (mother's elder/ yi, ayi*, yima
younger sister)
6. uncle (husband of yifi
mother's sister)

TABLE 3: OWN FAMILY

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Relation Male Vocative Female Vocative

1. father bdba,die*
2. mother ma*, mama*, nidng

3. elder brother ge*, gege*

4. elder sister-in-law sao*, saozi*

5. younger brother di*, didi*, xiongdi*

6. younger sister-in-law dimii*
7. elder sister jie*,jiejie*
8. elder brother-in-law jiefu
9. younger sister mei*, tneimei*
10. younger brother-in-law miifit

11. son era

12. daughter-in-law
13. daughter guniang*, guina*6
14. son-in-law guye
15. nephew (brother's son) zhizi*
16. nephew's wife
17. niece (brother's daughter) zhintt*
18. niece's husband
19. nephew (sister's son)
20. nephew's wife
21. niece (sister's daughter)
22. niece's husband

6
In Chinese, gun and gniang , both have two meanings, one means 'girl', the
other 'daughter' (esp. in spoken language). The second meaning belongs to the
system of kinship terms while the first does not. In China, it is impolite for young
men, especially strangers to address young girls by gun or gniang. However,
people of the older generation can use these two terms to address young girls
because they treat them asif they were their daughters. This is exemplified by (3).
But elderly men still run a risk if they do so because young girls, especially in urban
areas, may not like to be treated like this.
67
 YONGYI WTJ

3. PATTERNS OF KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS AMONGST

STRANGERS

There are several patterns of address for strangers which I will discuss
below. The first is:

3.1 Lao 'old' + KINSHIP TERM

In Chinese, lao 'old' is a prefix that expresses deference to seniors or to

people who have higher social status than speaker. It can be used with
many address terms such as lao followed by surname (Ifio Wdng 'Old
Wang') and Kio followed by titles {lao tdngzhi 'Old comrade', lao
cMngzKtmg 'Old factory director'), and also used with kinship terms. For
example:
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(6) (On the bus, a conductor talks to an elderly woman)

C: Lao danidng, ntn zud zhir ba.
old aunt, you sit here PART
'Old aunt, would you sit here please?'

(7) (An exchange between a shopgirl and an elderly male customer)

G: Lao daye, nin m5i dianr shinme?
old uncle, you buy a-bit what?
'Old uncle, what do you want to buy?'
C: BU mai hdi bu keyl kdnkan?
not buy too not can look
'(You mean) I can't have a look if I don't buy?'

G: Huanying, huanying canguan.

welcome, welcome visit
'You're welcome, welcome to look!'

(8) (A male teenager asks an elderly man to buy his pears in syrup)
T: Loo bd, ydo chl li ma?
old uncle, want eat pear INTERROG
'Old uncle, would you like to eat pears?'
QJng zud qlng zud. Li&ng mdo qidn yi wan.
please sit, please sit. two ten-cent money one bowl
'Please sit down. Twenty cents for a bowl.'

Not all kinship terms (with an asterisk in the tables above) could be
prefixed by lao because Ifto, as I have explained above, is a prefix
expressing deference to seniors (here, social status is not a crucial factor
because the two sides of communication are strangers). Some possible
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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

alternatives are laoyiye 'old grandpa',7 laonainai 'old grandma', laodaye

'old uncle', laoddnidng 'old aunt', laobdfbo) 'old uncle', laoge 'old elder
brother', laosaozi 'old elder sister-in-law', laodie 'old father' and so on.
Laogonggong 'old grandpa' and laopdpo 'old grandma' are also possible
alternatives, but less used compared with l&oyfye and laonainai.
Junior kinship terms usually cannot be prefixed by lao because of its
reference to age. Uiodi 'old younger brother' is the only exception.
Laoxiong 'old elder brother' and laodi 'old younger brother' are
generally used to address close friends, but rarely used to address
strangers. In the latter case, they are patronising in effect in showing
seniority. Laoye 'maternal grandfather' which, like Vaoyiye, can also be
explained as prefix lao 'old' + yi 'grandfather' although its meaning has
changed from maternal grandfather into paternal grandfather, is an old-
fashioned term to address persons of high social status by people of lower
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social status, for example, servants to officials. 'Master', 'bureaucrat',

'esquire' and 'lord' are its usual translation (Chao 1956:226). After
Liberation in 1949, this usage of laoye disappeared whereas laolao
'maternal grandmother' which has neutral connotations is still used to
address acquaintances. (Note that the Chinese character for laolao
'maternal grandma' is different from lao 'old' in laoye 'maternal
grandpa', the former is composed of a reduplicated syllable.)
As I have mentioned above, the kinship term baba 'father', in Chinese,
is never used to address others except one's own father or sometimes
stepfather, while mama 'mother' can be used to address other older
females. For example, laomama 'old mother' for strangers and 'surname
+ mama' for acquaintances. Chao states (1956:227) that a married
maidservant will be called by her maiden or married name followed by
ma, as Wdng ma. This old-fashioned form is hardly heard now in
mainland China according to my own observations. Ayi 'mother's sister' is
used in this case. When mama is not preceded by lao or a surname, it
cannot be used to address anyone else apart from one's own mother. Here
prefix lao and surname have the function of establishing the identity of
addressee as being not the speaker's mother.

3.2. Da + KINSHIP TERM

This is the second pattern of address for strangers. In Chinese, when da

modifies kinship terms, it is used in three kinds of situations. First, da

7
Literally, loyye and loninai mean 'great-grandfather' and 'great-grandmother',
but they may be analysed in another way, that is, prefix lo 'old' + yye
'grandfather' and lo 'old' + ninai 'grandmother'. In the non-kinship usage, the
second analysis appears to be used. Thus, only three generations of kinship terms
can be used to address non-kin, not four generations.
69
 YONGYI WU
means 'eldest' or 'first', e.g. ddge 'eldest brother', ddjie 'eldest sister',
ddsao 'wife of eldest brother', ddshu 'father's first younger brother',
ddshenr 'wife of father's first younger brother'. Numerals can be
substituted for it, for example, irge 'second elder brother', sanjie 'third
elder sister', sisao 'wife of fourth elder brother' and so on:

(9) ddge 'eldest brother' ddshii 'father's first younger brother'

erge 'second brother' ershu 'father's second younger brother'
sange 'third brother' sanshu 'father's third younger brother'
sige 'fourth brother' stshii 'father's fourth younger brother'

This dd refers to seniority, so ddge 'eldest brother' implies ge/gege

'brother'.
Second, dd 'big/elder', as a morpheme, is used in specific kinship
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terms, e.g. in ddbd 'father's elder brother', ddye 'father's elder brother',
ddma 'wife of father's elder brother', ddnidng 'wife of father's elder
brother'. In this case, father's second elder brother would be called er
('second') ddye while wife of father's third elder brother is called son
('third') ddnidng (the latter is an example from Xidnddi Hdnyti. Cidian
[Modern Chinese Dictionary] 1986:199), though father's first elder
brother and wife of father's first elder brother cannot be addressed as
*ddddye/*ddddbd or *ddddmdl*ddddnidng because, as a morpheme, the
original meaning 'eldest' of da is still fixed in ddye, ddbd and ddnidng,
ddma. The possible combinations are as follows:

(10) ddye 'father's first/any elder brother'

erddye 'father's second elder brother'
sanddye 'father's third elder brother'

'wife of father's first/any elder brother'

irdanidng 'wife of father's second elder brother'
sanddnidng 'wife of father's third elder brother'

In addition, as specific kinship terms, ddma 'aunt', ddnidng 'aunt', ddye

'uncle' consist of two morphemes. In these terms, the second morpheme
md means 'mother', nidng 'mother', ye 'grandfather'. Unlike ge and ji<
in ddge 'eldest brother' and dajii 'eldest sister', they cannot be separated
from dd since the meaning will change. However, ddbd 'father's elder
brother' is different. If b6 is separated from dd, its meaning does not
change, it still means 'father's elder brother'. So although ddbd is a
specific term, its usage is close to ddge. The forms irddbd, sanddbd are
less heard, but not impossible (maybe usage is still in the process of
changing from a free form to a morpheme) while irbd(bo), sanbdfbo)
are often heard. The interesting thing is that, in Chao's tables (1956),
ddye, ddmd, ddnidng cannot be preceded by numerals like dd 'first', er
'second', son 'third' etc., but only bd (without dd ) can occur thus. Ddbd
is not a specific term. But in Xidnddi Hdnyu Cidian [Modern Chinese
70
 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

Dictionary] (1983), ddbd is explained as 'father's elder brother', not

'father's first elder brother' as is ddge 'first elder brother/eldest
brother'. Third, dd can also be used as a deferential prefix, e.g.
ddxiongdi prefix + 'younger brother', ddzhizi prefix + 'brother's son',
ddzhinil prefix + 'brother's daughter' and so on. The original 'senior'
meaning of dd has almost disappeared in these terms. The function of
this dd is merely to express deference to addressees.
In short, kinship terms with dd in the first and second situations
described above can be used to address both kin and non-kin. Among
non-kin, kinship terms for strangers generally are not preceded by
numerals, while those for acquaintances are not subject to this
restriction. In the third situation, kinship terms preceded by the
deferential prefix dd are exclusively used to address non-kin. Morever,
dd in ddxiongdi, ddzhizi and ddzhintt cannot be replaced by numerals
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since dd, here, is a deferential prefix. On the other hand, as designatives

among kin, xibngdi, zhinii and zhizi can be preceded by numerals. For
example, 2h$ shi wd de ddzhizi, nd shi wd de irzhinil 'This is my eldest
nephew and that is my second niece'. In addition, ddye, ddnidng, ddge,
ddjie, dama and ddbd can also be preceded by the deferential prefix l&o
to address non-kin while ddxiongdi, ddzhinil, ddzhizi cannot since dd is
already a deferential prefix.
The following are two examples using dd + kinship terms to
address strangers:

(11) (An elderly woman who has left her key in her house and feels
very worried is talking to her neighbors. At this moment an
unknown young man comes by and consoles her.)
M: Ddnidng, nin bii zhdoji,
elder aunt you not worry,

wo bang nin V& ydoshi nd-chiildi.

I help you PRE key take-out
'Elder aunt, don't worry, I'll help you get your key back.'

W: Ni? Wd zhu zdi san Idu,

you I live on three floor
rii z&nme shdngqu?
you how go-up
'You? I live on the third floor, how are you going to get up
there?'

M: Wd cdng wdibidnr pd shdngqu.

I from outside climb go-up
'I'll climb up from the outside (and get in).'

(12) A woman about thirty years old meets her former lover who
71
 YONGYI WU

is over forty years old after more than ten years' separation)
W: Dage, gen ril dating ge rin.
elder brother, PRE you ask-about CLF person,

Nl, nl shi Muchun gel

you you are Muchun elder brother
'Elder brother, (could I) ask you about someone, you, aren't
you elder brother Muchun!'

M: A, nl shi Fengxian?
oh you are Fengxian
'Oh, are you Fengxian?'

Example (12) is interesting. At first, the woman who asks for the help of
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that man, addresses him as dage, treating him as a stranger. After she has
recognised him, she changes dage into Muchun ge (Given name + kinship
term), which is a pattern for addressing acquaintances. This will be
discussed below.

3.3 Xiao + KINSHIP TERM8

Xiao 'little/young' is a prefix which is generally used to refer to those

younger than oneself, for example, Xiao Wdng 'Little Wang', xiao
pengyou 'little friend'. Like the prefix lao 'old', it can be followed by the
surname. But only a few professional titles, such as shifu 'master' can
follow xiao to be used to address persons while official titles and ranks
can not. So xiao shifu is acceptable, while *xiao shuji 'little secretary',
*xiao chitzhang 'little division chief, *xiao changzhang 'little factory
director' are unacceptable. Xiao is less deferential than lao. Chao
(1956:238) believes that xiao is used with a higher degree of familiarity
than lao. Maybe this was true at Chao's time, but nowadays it is not the
case in mainland China. Age and social status are the two main factors
when a person decides to choose lao or xiao.
Unlike lao and da, there are only a few kinship terms which fit into the
xiao + kinship term pattern. Xiao didi 'little younger brother' and xiao
meimei 'little younger sister' are two frequent alternatives. Here are two
examples:

(13) Xiao didi, rii jiao she"nme mingzi?

little younger brother, you call what name
'Little younger brother, what is your name?'

8
Xiojie 'miss' is a specific term used to address unmarried non-kin females. It is
composed of two morphemes xio 'little' and ji 'elder sister', which correspond to
the third pattern although it is not used to address family members.

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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE
(14) Xiao miimei, bit yao kit,
little younger sister, not want cry,
wb dai ril qil zhao ril mama,
I take you go find you mother
hao ma?
good INTERROG
'Little younger sister, don't cry, I'll take you to find your
mother, OK?'

In the family, didi and miimei are younger persons of one's own
generation. However, among strangers, adults often use xiao didi and xiao
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miimei to address children while children may call them shushu, ayi,
ytye, nainai although there probably is a difference of one or even two
generations between them. This is due to the fact that indication of a
person's seniority is viewed as a compliment in China (cf. Chao 1956:
223). Older people are generally shown great respect. So sometimes,
when someone addresses a stranger using kinship terms, he may choose
kinship terms reflecting a somewhat greater age than the real situation.
Although children belong to the younger generation, people can
deliberately raise their generation up to their own generation in order to
show politeness and respect.

3.4 KINSHIP TERM alone

This is a fourth way to address strangers. Yiye 'grandfather', nainai

'grandmother', bdbo 'father's elder brother', shushu 'father's younger
brother', ayi 'mother's sister', germen 'elder brother' + plural (indicating
both singular and plural according to context), guintt 'daughter' are some
possibilities. The following are examples:

(15) (An exchange between a little girl and a young man in the
theatre)
G: Shushu, rilmen Hang ge tai gao,
uncle, you-PL two CLF too tall,

wb hi miimei tai U.
I and younger sister too short.
Nlmen zud zai wdmen qidnbianr,
you-PL sit in we in-front

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 YONGYI WU

women kdn - bu - jian tdi shctng de biaoyan

we look not see stage at REL performance
'Uncle, both of you are very tall, my younger sister and I are
very short. If you sit in front of us we can't see the
performance on stage.'

M: O zdnmen hudnhuan zudwei, hao bit ft&o?

oh, we change seats, good not good?
'Oh, how about we change seats?'

G: Xiixie, shushu
Thank uncle
'Thank you, uncle.'
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(16) A: Ni hao, xiao pengyou!

you good, little friend
'Hello, little friends!'

B: Shushu, csyi hao!

uncle, auntie good
'Hello, uncle and auntie!'

A: NI duodd le?
you how-old PART
'How old are you?'

B: Wo qi sui le.
I seven year PART
'I am seven years old.'

(17) (A young man who wants to have a puncture in his bike tyre
mended at a cheap price talks to a young repairman)
M: Ldi, germen, chou zhi yan.
come elder brother smoke CLF tobacco
'Come on, elder brother, have a smoke!'

BU chou? He ping juzishulr ba,

not smoke? drink CLF orange-juice PART,

jiejie ke.
quench thirst
'No? Would you like a bottle of orange juice to quench your
thirst?'

R: Xiexie, bH he
thank not drink
'No, thanks.'
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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

Table 4 is a flow chart of the system of kinship address forms for

strangers, which represents a process of the choice of address forms by a
speaker and their linguistic patterns.
Whether or not one enters this system depends on one's socio-
linguistic as well as common knowledge. "Intimacy" is one factor.
Different address forms imply varying degrees of intimacy: kinship term
> tdngzhl 'comrade'Ishifu 'master' > xiansheng 'miste?/xiaojie 'miss'.
The desire to ingratiate is another factor. If a person wants to seek
someone's help, he/she will choose the intimate address forms. Respect for
age and sex also influence one's choice. Kinship terms can show deference
for a different generation or sex. Using kinship terms with prefix lao and
da shows more deference than using plain kinship terms, while using plain
kinship terms shows more intimacy than using kinship terms with prefix
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/So and da. Acquaintance is the first selector at the entrance into the
system of kinship address forms. The patterns of address forms are
different for acquaintances and strangers. "Generation" selectors refer to
the difference of age: senior, the same generation or junior. Care must be
taken with xiaodidi 'little younger brother' and xiaomiimei 'little younger
sister', which are used to address children although their original semantic
meanings refer to one's own generation. In one generation, the boundary
between age groups becomes very vague and ambiguous. For example,
choosing bdbo 'father's elder brother' or shushu 'father's younger
brother' to address a person who looks like one's father's generation just
depends on one's personal intuition or habit. All the items in the outcomes
are possible alternatives.

4. PATTERNS OF KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS AMONG

ACQUAINTANCES

An obvious distinction between patterns for strangers and those for

acquaintances is that, in the latter, kinship terms can be preceded by
surname or given name because the addressee is someone who the speaker
knows. I will discuss four patterns. The first pattern is:

4.1 Surname + KINSHIP TERM

Here are some examples:

(18) (A young woman invites an elderly woman to come to her

home)
Y: Zhang riainai, kudi qlng wu li zud ba.
Zhang grandma, quick please house inside sit PART
'Grandma Zhang, please come in and sit down.'

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 YONGYI WU

TABLE 4: FLOW CHART OF THE SYSTEM OF KINSHIP ADDRESS

FORMS FOR STRANGERS

laoycyc
(ljfo) dlye
(llfo) g
gonggong
bobo
d^bo
d^shti
shUshu
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laonainai
(l;fo) d;!niang
+Mn!e (l)fo) popo
d^rria
drishenr
System- fAcquainiancc! +Scnior I
entrance. Generation!

iSfoqc"
d"ai;c
Table 5 +Mslc
Generation

laosaozi
diisao
dijic

+Ma)c|
T '+

xiaomiimci
gUniang
guTnii

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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

(19) (A child requests an elderly man)

C: Wdng yiye, nin gei women jiang ge gilshi ba.
Wang grandpa, you give us tell CLF story PART
'Grandpa Wang, please tell us a story.'

(20) (An elderly man asks a young man to draw a portrait for him)
Y: Sun bd, wo ke hud bit hao,
Sun uncle, I EMPH draw not good,

qlng duo baohan.

please much forgive
'Uncle Sun, I can't draw well, please forgive me.'
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E: Zhi wd zhidao, wo yaoqfu ye bu gao.

this I know, my demand also not high
'I know that, but I don't want a masterpiece!' (lit: my demand
is not high)

(21) (A young man asks a middle-aged woman for help)

Hei, LI jit, qiii til bang gi mdng,
hey Li elder sister, ask you help CLF help,

xing ma?
alright INTERROG
'Hey older sister Li, may I ask a favour of you?'

W: Xing a, xiao Liu. Shinme shir?

alright PART, little Liu. what matter
'Alright, little Liu. What's the matter?'

Some kinship terms are seldom preceded by a surname, e.g. ge 'elder

brother', didi 'younger brother', xiongdi 'younger brother', zhizi
'nephew', zhinil 'niece', guintt 'daughter' etc. Most kinship terms with da
'big/elder/eldest' can be preceded by surname like ddye 'father's elder
brother', ddnidng 'wife of father's elder brother', dabd 'father's elder
brother', dania 'wife of father's elder brother', ddshit 'father's younger
brother', dashenr 'wife of father's younger brother', dage 'eldest
brother', das&o 'wife of eldest brother', dajie 'eldest sister'; while a few
like dazhinii 'big niece', dazhizi 'big nephew', daxiongdi 'big younger
brother', datneizi 'big younger sister' can not.
The pattern prefix xiao + surname + kinship term is a possible
combination, for example, xiao Zhang gege 'little Zhang elder brother',
xiao LI jiijie 'little Li elder sister'. However xiao + surname + da
'big/eldest' + kinship term is impossible, e.g. *xiao Zhang dage *'little
Zhang eldest brother', *xiao LI dajie *'little Li eldest sister'. The
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 YONGYI WU

distribution of prefix lao 'old' is more complex, especially when there is

dd in the expression. The possible combinations are shown as follows, but
it is very difficult to decide how many terms can be so used:

(22) Wdng laobd surname + 'old uncle'

*Wdng laoddbd surname + 'old big uncle'
lao Wdng bdbo 'old' + surname + 'uncle'
lao Wdng ddbd 'old' + surname + 'big uncle'
*lao Wdng laobd 'old' + surname + 'old big uncle'
*/3o Wdng Icwddbd 'old' + surname + 'old big uncle'

Thong laoge surname + 'old elder brother'

*Zhang laoddge surname + 'old eldest brother'
ho Zhang g'e 'old' + surname* 'elder brother'
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lao Zhang ddge 'old' + surname + 'eldest brother'

*lao Zhang laoge 'old' + surname + 'old elder brother'
*lao Zhang laoddge 'old' + surname + 'old eldest brother'

As we can see, there cannot be two laos in one expression and also da
cannot be preceded by lao if there is a surname in the expression, which
means lao + surname + dd + kinship term is a possible combination, but
lao + surname + lao + dd + kinship term is impossible.
The functions of surname or given name (discussed below) here, are
not only to express that the speaker knows the addressee, but also to
establish the identity of the addressee: you are not my kin.

4.2 Given name + KINSHIP TERM

This is the second pattern; two examples are given here:

(23) (A young girl asks her friend)

Ailidnjie, ril yljing ydu
Ailian elder sister, you already have

ndn pingyou le ba?

male friend PART INTERROG
'Elder sister Ailian, you've already got a boyfriend, I
suppose.'

(24) (A secretary of the county Party Committee talks to an elderly

farmer)
Gutting taoge, ril zenme yixidzi
Guiting leder brother, you why suddenly

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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE
ba wb dang wairin le?
PRE I be/serve-as stranger PART
'Old elder brother Guiting, why do you suddenly treat me as a
stranger?'

There are three points which I want to discuss here. The first one
concerns the fact that this pattern is generally used to address persons of
one's own generation, but rarely anyone of the older generation because
in face-to-face address, using the given name of someone of the older
generation is impolite and discouraged in China. However, the pattern
surname + KINSHIP TERM doesn't have this restriction. The second
point is that if the kinship term is preceded by a surname or a given name,
the prefix lao before that term should be omitted. Laoge 'old elder
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brother', laobd 'old uncle', laodie 'old father' seem to be exceptions (see
examples 22 and 24) for which no explanation can be found. Compared
with lao, da can still be preceded by a surname (see the discussion above)
or given name. The third point is that using given name + KINSHIP
TERM to address an acquaintance is more friendly and intimate than
using surname + KINSHIP TERM. Without a surname or given name, da
+ KINSHIP TERM can also be used to address an acquaintance whereas
lao + KINSHIP TERM is less used.

4.3 (Surname/given name +)da 'big/elder/eldest' + KINSHIP TERM

Here are some examples of this third pattern:

(25) (Aunt Wang's son is going to marry, his colleagues come to his
home to celebrate)
C: Wdng dama, gei nin daoxi Idi le,
Wang aunt, PRE you congratulate come PART
'Aunt Wang, we've come to congratulate you.'

xinldngguan ne?
groom INTERROG
'Where is the groom?'

W: Aiybl Ke bit gandang, ta qu jie

Oh EMPH not deserve he go meet

xinnidngzi le. Kuai fin wu, qing zud,

bride PART, quick come-in room, please sit down,

chi xltdng.
eat wedding-sweets
79
 YONGYI WU

'Oh, I really don't deserve this! He is going to meet his bride.

Come in and sit down please, have some wedding sweets.'

(26) (A young married woman asks her neighbor, an elderly man, to

help her)
W: Zhing ddye, wd qii huan tntiqi, Ido nin fid
Zheng uncle, I go change gas put you trouble

gei kan zhe tn4n.

PRE look-at SUFFIX door
'Uncle Zheng, I am going to change the gas bottle, may I
trouble you to look after the house for me?'
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M: Xing, xing, jiao - gii wd ba.

alright, alright, hand-over - give me PART
'Alright, alright, I'll look after it.'

(27) (A young man says goodbye to his friend)

Tianxun ddge, xia hui jidnl
Tianxun eldest brother, next time meet
'Eldest brother Tianxun, see you next time!'

(28) (An elderly woman talks to a young girl who is a close friend of
her daughter)
W: Guniang, ril riar bu shufii?
daughter, you where not well

Jintian hao dianr le ma?

today good a-bit PART INTERROG
'Daughter, what's been the matter with you? Are you feeling
better today?'

G: Ddnidng, xiexie rii, wo hao duo le.

aunt, thank you I good a-lot PART
'Thank you, aunt, I'm much better.'

(29) (An exchange between a young man and a young girl who is a
close friend of his younger sister Afang)
G: Yd, ddge, nin then ydnggbng a!
oh eldest brother, you very hardworking PART
'Oh, eldest brother, you're very hardworking!'

Xid le ban jiil mentdu xuixi,

get-off PART work EMPH quietly study
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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

ye bit chiiqu wdnwanr?

also not go play
'You've been studying so hard since you knocked off work, why
don't you go out for a break?'

Afang hdi mil xia - ban a?

Afang still not get-off work PART
'Afang hasn't finished work, has she?'

M: Hdi mii ne.

still not PART
'No, she hasn't.'
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In Chinese, zhizi 'nephew' and zhinii 'niece' cannot be used to address

strangers because treating a stranger as your junior generation is impolite.
However, they can be used to address acquaintances. Even in this case, the
prefix da (for expressing respect) or sometimes the given name (for
expressing intimacy) will precede them. Here is an example:

(30) (A man of one's father's generation talks to a younger man)

M: Ddzhizi, bii zheyang,
big nephew, not like-this,

ril Wdng shit zher you de shi jiit.

your Wang uncle here have plenty of alcohol
Big nephew, don't be like this, your uncle Wang's got enough
alcohol.'
Ldi, jiechdr he.
come, continue drink
'Come on, let's keep drinking.'

4.4. KINSHIP TERM alone

The examples of this fourth pattern are as follows:

(31) (An elderly woman calls at her neighbor's, another elderly

woman's home) (same as example (5) above; the teknonymous
usage in this example is discussed below in section 5)
A: Saozi, wu li ybu rin ma?
sister-in-law, room inside have person INTERROG
'Sister-in-law, is there anyone in?'

81
 YONGYI WU
B: Yd, ta shenr ya, kudi wii li zud,
oh, his aunt PART, quick room inside sit
'Oh, his aunt, come in and sit down,

jlnr zenme zhime xidnzai a?

today why such free PART?
how come you're free today?'

(32) (A little girl talks to a girl twenty years old)

Ayi, chdngchang wbmen jia de putao,
auntie taste-taste our family PART grape
'Auntie, have a taste of our grapes,
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wo ba zui da de gei ril daildi le.

I PRE biggest REL PRE you bring PART
I've brought you the biggest ones.'

(33) (After a dinner, a young man says good-bye to his girlfriend's

father, who probably is his future father-in-law)
Bdfu, xiixie nin de ku&nddi, wd zbu le.
Uncle, thank your Particle entertaining, I go PART
'Uncle, thank you for your hospitality, but I have to go'

In Chao's table (1956), bqfu is a designative while bdmti is both

designative and vocative. However, bdfu is also used as a vocative
nowadays (see example (33)). These two terms cannot be used to address
strangers but acquaintances who are typically the parents of one's friends
or one's future or probable future parents-in-law. This is the case with
example (33).
As I have mentioned above, one of the functions of the surname and
the given name in pattern I and II is to establish the identity of the
addressee: you are not my kin. Without the surname and the given name,
it means that the speaker wants to treat the addressee as his/her own
family member, thus making it more intimate, at least according to
intention or some kind of unconscious sense-intuition. On the other hand,
the addressee can also feel closer to the speaker because generally
speaking, surname and given name do not precede kinship terms when kin
members address one another. So among acquaintances, using plain
kinship terms (including the pattern 'da + KINSHIP TERM' without
surname or given name) to address one another shows more intimacy than
using kinship terms preceded by surname or given name. Kinship terms
combined with the given name are more intimate than those combined
with the surname.
Table 5 gives the flow chart of the system of kinship address forms for
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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

TABLE 5:
FLOW CHART OF THE SYSTEM OF KINSHIP
ADDRESS FORMS FOR ACQUAINTANCES
dW
Ifcdie
gongong
btfbo

d'ashiT
shushu

nainai
popo ,
dpniang
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laolao

bomfi
dash&r
shynr
ayi

System +Accjuainiancc +Scnior g

entrance d'age
gc
gormcn
xiong
[a^oxiohg
l5fnd>
di(di)
xicTngdi

83
 YONGYI WU

acquaintances. The alternatives for acquaintances are more numerous than

those for strangers. Notice that in the table, didi and miimei go back to
the square for the same generation because speaker knows addressee and
excessive respect for the junior generation is unnecessary (see section 2).

5 . A KIND OF TEKNONYMOUS USAGE AMONG NON-KIN

In a Chinese family, a wife sometimes calls her husband hdizi ta. bd/die
'child his/her father' or Xiaohu ta ba "Xiaohu his/her father' {Xiaohu is a
pet name for their child). Similarly, a husband would call his wife hdizi ta
ma/nidng 'child his/her mother', using the same pattern, after they have a
child. Here a pronoun ta 'his/her' implies that 'you are not my
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father/mother but you are our child's father/mother'. One's wife can also
imitate her child's usage to call her husband's brother (ta) san shu
'(his/her) third uncle' to show her respect for him. This usage also exists
among non-kin. If a person wants to show deference to another person of
his/her same generation, he/she can use the pattern 'ta 'his/her' +
KINSHIP TERM OF THE SENIOR GENERATION' when the addressee
has a child. This is the case in example (31) above, repeated here for the
reader's convenience:

(31) (An elderly woman calls at her neighbor's, another elderly

woman's, home. The latter has a son.)
A: Saozi, wu li ybu ren ma?
sister-in-law, room inside have person INTERROG
'Sister-in-law, is there anyone in?'

B: Yd, ta shinr ya, kuai wu. li zud,

oh, his aunt Particle, quick room inside sit
'Oh, his aunt, come in and sit down,

jinr zZnme zheme xidnzdi a?

today why such free Particle?
how come you're free today?'

(34) is another example:

(34) (Li An's father talks to his neighbour, a man of the same
generation)
F: Ta shu, zhe hdizi he duo le,
his uncle, this child drink much Particle,
'His uncle, this child has drunk too much,

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 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

lidn wd dou M pa le,

even me Emphatic adv. not afraid of Particle
he is not even afraid of me,

rii duo danddi.

you much forgive
please forgive him.'

6. THE SOCIAL EXTENSION OF KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS:

EXTENSION OF FAMILY SOLIDARITY

Generally speaking, using kinship address forms to address non-kin,

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which I call the social extension of kinship address forms, also has some
restrictions. As I have mentioned above, not all kinship terms can be used.
The number of possible alternatives is less than those used among family
members and relatives. The interesting point here is that the kinship terms
of the mother's family are hardly used to address nonrelatives with the
exception of ayi 'mother's sister' which has a very high frequency. It
seems that people in contemporary Chinese society still attach more
importance to the relatives on the paternal side than to those on the
maternal side. This, I believe, comes from the feudal tradition of China
and also shows the characteristics of a patriarchal society. In addition, you
may notice that the address forms of the female spouses on the paternal
side, for example danidng 'wife of father's elder brother', shenr 'wife of
father's younger brother', shozi 'wife of elder brother' can be used to
address non-kin while the address forms of the male spouses on the
paternal side, for example guju 'husband of father's sister', jiefu 'husband
of elder sister', meifu 'husband of younger sister', can not. This also
reflects a traditional Chinese cultural belief whereby women upon
marriage no longer belong to their own family but to their new family
which is their husband's family. They thus become wdir^n 'outsiders' of
their own family.
Senior address forms used to address non-relatives are more numerous
than those of juniors. The reason is that vocatives of younger members of
the family are less in number than those of seniors because of the "power"
semantic meaning. Seniors can use many different kinds of given names
or pet names for juniors (Brown & Gilman 1960), conversely those of
junior status cannot. Hence, kinship vocatives are asymmetrical. As
mentioned above, in China, the aged are held in great respect. Therefore,
choosing senior kinship terms to address non-relatives, both known and
unknown, can show one's respect and politeness for them.
I propose two hypotheses in order to explain the reason and the
purpose of using kinship address forms to address non-kin:
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 YONGYI WU

i) To establish some kind of relationship between two strangers similar to

features of "family solidarity" (Brown & Gilman 1960) which I define as
"the extension of the family solidarity".

ii) To maintain this "family solidarity" between two acquaintances.

If speaker and addressee are unknown, usually there is no relation

between them. By using kinship terms, for example in order to ask a
favour of an addressee or to sell something to him/her, the speaker
attempts to establish a temporary solidarity like that between family
members. If the addressee accepts it, then solidarity has been achieved. A
kind of intimacy among persons comes into being as a result of this
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solidarity. With the establishment of "family solidarity", both speaker and

addressee will feel more close and intimate. Thus the channel of
communication is strengthened. The implicational hierarchy for intimacy
of address forms in Chinese, as mentioned above, in order of decreasing
intimacy is KINSHIP TERM > tdngzhl 'comrade' > xiansheng 'mister'.
Someone may argue that the use of tdngzhl implies a very strong
commitment to "comrade solidarity" which denotes a high degree of
intimacy. But this is not entirely the case. As Fang & Heng state
(1983:498), tdngzhl has gradually lost its social colour. The kind of
comradely relationship which was established during the Armed
Revolution Period of the 1930s has been weakened. However, kinship
terms still maintain the meaning of strong family solidarity.
While "family solidarity" has been established, a kind of family
member's responsibility is then bestowed at the same time on both sides of
the communication. Within a "family", everyone should help each other,
and especially seniors have a strong responsibility towards juniors. For
example, among neighbours, maintaining "family solidarity" by using
kinship address forms is very important. The use of kinship address forms
gives the impression of warmth and intimacy. This corresponds to the
typical neighbourhood situation in China. Neighbours help each other and
treat each other as "family members". A Chinese proverb Yu&nqm bH r&
jlnlin 'Remote kin cannot compare with close neighbours' is a good
indication of how Chinese people attach importance to the relationship
among neighbours.
'Can the solidarity of the family be extended so widely?' is a question
asked by Brown & Gilman (1960:276). My conclusion for Chinese is in
the affirmative. Chinese people do use kinship address forms to address
non-kin in order to establish and maintain "family solidarity" although the
patterns of usage have some differences from those for kinship members.
By using kinship address forms, polite and close interpersonal relations
can be established. In Chinese, this is known as tdo jlnhu 'to try to win
 KINSHIP ADDRESS FORMS IN MANDARIN CHINESE

someone's friendship' or 'to butter someone up'.

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Unpublished MA thesis, East China Normal University.

REFERENCES FOR EXAMPLES

Li, D.Z. (ed.) 1987. Y fenzhng xioshu xunzh [Annotated selections of one
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Liu, X. et al. 1986. Shyng Hny kbn (II). [Practical Chinese reader (II)]. Beijing:
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Lu, X.Y. et al. 1986. Chj k uy [Everyday Chinese for beginners]. Beijing: Beijing
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Qiu, Z.P. 1985. Shu shnme, znme shu [What to say and how to say it]. Nanjing:
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Xu Hny [Learning Chinese] (monthly). 1987-1988. Beijing: Beijing Language
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 YONGYI WU

International Exchange Office

East China Normal University
Shanghai
CHINA
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