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In:“You can say you to me”: Address in German
Edited by Heinz L. Kretzenbacher, Horst J. Simon and Christa Dürscheid
[Topics in Address Research 7] 2026
► pp. 198–221

Chapter 10
“Schöne Pyjama für Sie, Abla!”

Forms of address in language contact: Usage patterns and pragmatics of address at a linguistically highly diverse street market in Berlin

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Abstract
This chapter investigates the structure and usage of nominal and pronominal forms of address at a much-frequented, linguistically diverse street market in Berlin. This hotspot of urban multilingualism shows particularly interesting ways of address as people make use of manifold linguistic resources available at the market. Drawing on different empirical methods and types of data, including ethnographic data from participant observation, findings from focus group discussions, and audio and video recordings of sales interactions, we show in which ways selecting forms of address and switching between them are central to sellers’ and visitors’ strategies for co-constructing individual identities, marking in-group and out-group status, modulating relationships between interlocutors, and expressing different forms of belonging, whether ethnically, socially, spatially, or linguistically grounded.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language contact at an urban street market
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Interaction types and available resources
  • 5.Nominal forms of address
    • 5.1Types, languages, and usage in different market interactions
    • 5.2Choice of forms of address
    • 5.3Formality, informality, and distancing
  • 6.Pronominal forms of address in interactions conducted in German
  • 7.Conclusion: Forms of address as speakers’ choices
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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