2.1Address terms

Studies on address terms can be traced back to Brown and Gilman (1960)Brown, Roger, and Albert Gilman 1960 “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity.” In Style in Language, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 253–276. Cambridge: MIT Press., who touched upon the usage of second-person pronouns in interpersonal communication. Today, address terms have become a focus of interest in disciplines such as sociolinguistics (Bin Towairesh 2012Bin Towairesh, Abdullah 2012 “The Use of Term of Address in the City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.” Ph.D. diss., University of Queensland. Brisbane.), pragmatics (Levinson 1983Levinson, Stephen C. 1983 Pragmatics. London: Cambridge University Press. ; Yule 2006Yule, George 2006 The Study of Language. UK: Cambridge University Press.), socio-pragmatics (Martiny 1996Martiny, Thierry 1996 “Forms of Address in French and Dutch: A Sociopragmatic Approach.” Language Sciences 18 (3–4): 365–375. ), and cognitive-pragmatics (Maalej 2010Maalej, Zouhair 2010 “Addressing Non-acquaintances in Tunisian Arabic: A Cognitive Pragmatic Account.” Intercultural Pragmatics 7 (1): 147–173. ). In the literature, many researchers have focused on the different forms of address terms, including names (Afful 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Braun 1988Braun, Friederike 1988 Terms of Address: Problems of Patterns and Usage in Various Languages and Cultures. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ), nicknames (Crozier and Dimmock 1999Crozier, W. Ray, and Patricia S. Dimmock 1999 “Name-calling and Nicknames in a Sample of Primary School Children.” British Journal of Educational Psychology 69: 505–516. ; De Klerk and Bosch 1999De Klerk, Vivian, and Barbara Bosch 1999 “Nicknames as Evidence of Verbal Playfulness.” Multilingua 18 (1): 1–16. ; Dornyo 2010Dornyo, Philip 2010 “Nicknaming Practices among University Students: A Case Study of the University of Cape Coast.” B.A. thesis, University of Cape Coast.), kinship terms (Mavunga et al. 2014Mavunga, George, John Mutambwa, and Partson Kutsaru 2014 “ ‘Iwe’ or ‘imi’? An Analysis of Terms of Address Used by Police Officers at Mbare Police Station.” Language Matters 45 (1): 148–161. ), institutional titles (Rendle-Shot 2007Rendle-Short, Johanna 2007 “ ‘Catherine, You’re Wasting Your Time’: Address Terms within the Australian Political Interview.” Journal of Pragmatics 39: 1503–1525. ), etc.

Some of the studies on address terms have dealt with their functions in communication. The first and foremost function of address terms is to manage interpersonal relationships. Through address terms, the addresser can express his/her relationship to (Quirk et al. 1985Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svatrvik 1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.) or social distance from (Mavunga et al. 2014Mavunga, George, John Mutambwa, and Partson Kutsaru 2014 “ ‘Iwe’ or ‘imi’? An Analysis of Terms of Address Used by Police Officers at Mbare Police Station.” Language Matters 45 (1): 148–161. ) the addressee. Besides this, Miller (2000)Miller, Jennifer 2000 “Language Use, Identity and Social Interaction: Migrant Students in Australia.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 33 (1): 69–100. and Afful (2010)Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. propose that address terms can help to identify gender, age or socioeconomic status. Another function of address terms, such as kinship or endearment terms, is that they are used as markers of mitigation (Anchimbe 2008Anchimbe, Eric 2008 “ ‘Come Greet Uncle Eric’ – Politeness Through Kinship Terms.” In De La Politesse Linguistique au Cameroun [Linguistic Politeness in Cameroon], ed. by Mulo F. Bernard, 109–120. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.; Fleming and Slotta 2018Fleming, Luke, and James Slotta 2018 “The Pragmatics of Kin Address: A Sociolinguistic Universal and Its Semantic Affordances.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 22 (4): 375–405. ; Hampel 2015Hampel, Elisabeth 2015 “ ‘Mama Zimbi, Pls Help Me!’ – Gender Differences in (Im)politeness in Ghanaian English Advice-giving on Facebook.” Journal of Politeness Research 11 (1): 99–130. ; Obeng 1999Obeng, Samuel Gyasi 1999 “Requests in Akan Discourse.” Anthropological Linguistics 41 (2): 230–251.). They are also related to politeness (Brown and Levinson 1987Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ) or deference (Thomas 1995Thomas, Jenny A. 1995 Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London/New York: Longman.) conventions in some countries. Apart from these functions, address terms are also found to be serving as structural units in interpersonal conversations (Clayman 2012Clayman, Steven E. 2018 “Address Terms in the Organization of Turns at Talk: The Case of Pivotal Turn Extensions.” Journal of Pragmatics 44: 1853–1867. ).

A few studies have noted that address terms are sensitive to some socio-cultural contexts (Ju 1991Ju, Zhucheng 1991 “The ‘Depreciation’ and ‘Appreciation’ of Some Address Terms in China.” Language in Society 20: 387–390. ). For example, some researchers reveal that social distance and interpersonal relationships are important factors influencing address terms (Brown and Ford 1961Brown, Roger, and Marguerite Ford 1961 “Address in American English.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 62 (2): 375–385. ; Brown and Gilman 1960Brown, Roger, and Albert Gilman 1960 “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity.” In Style in Language, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 253–276. Cambridge: MIT Press., 1989Brown, Roger, and Albert Gilman 1989 “Politeness Theory and Shakespeare’s Four Major Tragedies.” Language in Society 18 (2): 159–212. ; Wardhaugh 1986Wardhaugh, Ronald 1986 An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.). Afful (2006Afful, J. B. Archibald 2006 “Address Terms among University Students in Ghana: A Case Study.” Language and Intercultural Communication 6 (1): 76–91. , 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ) and Cao (2007)Cao, Xianghong 2007 “The Effect of Age and Gender on the Choice of Address Forms in Chinese Personal Letters.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 11 (3): 392–407. note that age and gender differences between the addresser and addressee also influence the use of address terms (Afful 2006Afful, J. B. Archibald 2006 “Address Terms among University Students in Ghana: A Case Study.” Language and Intercultural Communication 6 (1): 76–91. , 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Cao 2007Cao, Xianghong 2007 “The Effect of Age and Gender on the Choice of Address Forms in Chinese Personal Letters.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 11 (3): 392–407. ). Some recent studies have also begun to explore discourse structures (Liu 2009Liu, Yonghou 2009 “Determinants of Stall-holders’ Address Forms to Customers in Beijing’s Low-status Clothing Markets.” Journal of Pragmatics 41: 638–648. ) and communicators’ geographical distribution (Fleming and Slotta 2018Fleming, Luke, and James Slotta 2018 “The Pragmatics of Kin Address: A Sociolinguistic Universal and Its Semantic Affordances.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 22 (4): 375–405. ) as factors that constrain the use of address terms.

2.2Generalization of address terms

Previous studies on address terms demonstrate that they may convey extended meaning or fictive meaning besides their original meaning (Afful 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Dickey 2004Dickey, Eleanor 2004 “Literal and Extended Use of Kinship Terms in Documentary Papyri.” Mnemosyne 57 (2): 131–176. ; Kueh 2013Kueh, Joshua 2013 “Adaptive Strategies of Parian Chinese Fictive Kinship and Credit in Seventeenth-century Manila.” Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints 61 (3): 362–384. ). Studies have also identified three ways to extend the original meaning of address terms: the generalization of address terms, the inversion of address terms, and the re-interpretation of address terms (Kraska-Szlenk 2018Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona 2018 “Address Inversion in Swahili: Usage Patterns, Cognitive Motivation and Cultural Factors.” Cognitive Linguistics 29 (3): 545–583. ). Of the three ways, generalization of address terms is the most frequently discussed (Fleming and Slotta 2018Fleming, Luke, and James Slotta 2018 “The Pragmatics of Kin Address: A Sociolinguistic Universal and Its Semantic Affordances.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 22 (4): 375–405. ; Pan 1998Pan, Pan 潘攀 1998 “Lun qinshu chengwei yu de fanhua 论亲属称谓语的泛化 [On Kinship Term Generalization].” Yuyan wenzi yingyong 语言文字应用 [Applied Linguistics] (2): 34–38.).

According to the literature, the generalization of address terms is achieved in various ways. Firstly, they could be generalized in creative and non-literal ways, such as metaphor, irony or joking (Fitch 1991Fitch, Kristine L. 1991 “The Interplay of Linguistic Universals and Cultural Knowledge in Personal Address: Columbian Madre Terms.” Comunication Monographs 58: 254–272. ). Secondly, the address terms, especially some kinship terms, are sometimes extended to address those without blood relationships (Ren and Chen 2019Ren, Juanjuan, and Xinren Chen 2019 “Kinship Term Generalization as a Cultural Pragmatic Strategy among Chinese Graduate Students.” Pragmatics and Society 10 (4): 613–638. ). Thirdly, some general address terms (Wong 2008Wong, Andrew D. 2008 “The Trouble with Tongzhi: The Politics of Labeling among Gay and Lesbian Hongkongers.” Pragmatics 18 (2): 277–301.), titles or positioning address terms (Rendle-Short 2007Rendle-Short, Johanna 2007 “ ‘Catherine, You’re Wasting Your Time’: Address Terms within the Australian Political Interview.” Journal of Pragmatics 39: 1503–1525. ) are widely used in interpersonal communication, even though the addressees do not have the corresponding title or position.

Of the various generalized address terms, generalized kinship terms are the most frequently discussed by researchers (Chen 2018Chen, Jing 陈静 2018 “Fudao yuan qinshu lei shenfen dingwei xianxiang yu fenxi 辅导员亲属类身份定位现象与分析 [Analysis of the University Counselor’s Kinship Identity Positioning].” Henan keji xueyuan xuebao 河南科技学院学报 [Journal of Hennan Institute of Science and Technology] (1): 100–104.; Chen and Ren 2020Chen, Xinren, and Juanjuan Ren 2020 “A Memetic Cultural Practice: The Use of Generalized Kinship Terms in a Research Seminar Attended by Chinese Graduate Students.” Lingua 245: 1–11. ). Generalized kinship terms are the kin terms used for non-blood relations in specific contexts and functions (Alenizi 2019Alenizi, Aied 2019 “The Norms of Address Terms in Arabic: The Case of Saudi Speech Community.” International Journal of English Linguistics 9 (5): 227–241. ). In many languages, kinship terms are extended to refer to non-kin for politeness purposes (Hentschel 2013Hentschel, Elke 2013 “All Men Become Brothers: The Use of Kinship Terms for Non-related Persons as a Sign of Respect or Disrespect.” Linguistik Online 51: 1–12.) or for expressing affection (Kraska-Szlenk 2018Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona 2018 “Address Inversion in Swahili: Usage Patterns, Cognitive Motivation and Cultural Factors.” Cognitive Linguistics 29 (3): 545–583. ), which may be influenced by a variety of social factors, such as (1) the social status or rank of the other (Hentschel 2013Hentschel, Elke 2013 “All Men Become Brothers: The Use of Kinship Terms for Non-related Persons as a Sign of Respect or Disrespect.” Linguistik Online 51: 1–12.) and (2) the gender, age difference or family relationship between the addresser and addressee (You 2014You, Chenghong 2014 “Analysis on the Generalization of the Address Term “Teacher” in Chinese from the Perspective of Sociolinguistics.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 4 (3): 575–580. ).

2.3Chinese generalized kinship terms

Turning now to the literature on Chinese address terms, a number of studies have examined generalized kinship terms in Chinese. Many researchers have noted their varying forms. For example, Pan (1998)Pan, Pan 潘攀 1998 “Lun qinshu chengwei yu de fanhua 论亲属称谓语的泛化 [On Kinship Term Generalization].” Yuyan wenzi yingyong 语言文字应用 [Applied Linguistics] (2): 34–38. exemplifies sixteen types of generalized kinship terms in Chinese. Zhao and Xu (2009)Zhao, Qi, and Xu Xiaohong 赵琪, 徐晓红 2009 “Shanghai hua he dongbei hua qinshu chenghu yu fan hua bu junheng xianxiang yanjiu 上海话和东北话亲属称呼语泛化不均衡现象研究 [A Case Study on Unbalanced Fictive Use of Kinship Terms in Northeastern Dialect and Shanghai Dialect].” Jilin shifan daxue xuebao(renwen shehui kexue ban) 吉林师范大学学报(人文社会科学版) [Jilin Normal University Journal (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition)] (1): 54–56. discuss different forms of Chinese generalized kinship terms used with acquaintances or strangers. Chen and Yang (2015)Chen, Qin, and Yang Xuming 陈琴, 杨绪明 2015 “ ‘Ge/jie’ deng qinshu chengwei zicheng yi fanhua yanjiu ‘哥/姐’等亲属称谓自称义泛化研究 [On the Generalization of the Self-addressed Kinship Terms ‘Ge/Jie’].” Guangxi shifan xueyuan xuebao (zhexue shehui kexue ban) 广西师范学院学报(哲学社会科学版) [Journal of Guangxi Teachers Education University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition)] 36 (1): 128–131. note the generalization of the self-addressed kinship terms Ge/Jie (“brother/sister”) in online discourse.

Studies on Chinese generalized kinship terms also concern their features, functions, and/or principles (Chen 1984Chen, Songcen 陈松岑 1984 “Beijing chengqu liangdairen dui shang yi bei qinshu shiyong qinshu chengwei de bianhua 北京城区两代人对上一辈亲属使用亲属称谓的变化 [The Changes of Using Kinship Terms to Address Non-kins from the Previous Generation in Beijing Downtown].” Yuwen Yanjiu 语文研究 [Linguist Research] 2: 43–49.; Du 2017Du, Xuan 杜璇 2017 “Xiandai hanyu qinshu chengwei de fanhua tanjiu 现代汉语亲属称谓的泛化探究 [A Study on the Modern Chinese Kinship Terms Generalization].” Xiandai yuwen 现代语文 [Modern Chinese] (3): 119–122.; Wang 2006Wang, Na 王娜 2006 “Xiandai hanyu qinshu chengwei yu de fan hua yanjiu 现代汉语亲属称谓语的泛化研究 [A Study on the Modern Chinese Kinship Term Generalization].” M. A. Thesis, Qufu shifan daxue 曲阜师范大学 [Qufu Normal University].). For example, Chen (1984)Chen, Songcen 陈松岑 1984 “Beijing chengqu liangdairen dui shang yi bei qinshu shiyong qinshu chengwei de bianhua 北京城区两代人对上一辈亲属使用亲属称谓的变化 [The Changes of Using Kinship Terms to Address Non-kins from the Previous Generation in Beijing Downtown].” Yuwen Yanjiu 语文研究 [Linguist Research] 2: 43–49. suggests that generalized kinship terms are used for relationship maintenance. Wang (2006)Wang, Na 王娜 2006 “Xiandai hanyu qinshu chengwei yu de fan hua yanjiu 现代汉语亲属称谓语的泛化研究 [A Study on the Modern Chinese Kinship Term Generalization].” M. A. Thesis, Qufu shifan daxue 曲阜师范大学 [Qufu Normal University]. discusses the intimacy principle, age principle, status principle, and politeness principle that operate behind the use of Chinese generalized address terms, arguing that the terms have both a personal designation function and a social designation function. In addition to these studies, others also address the translation of generalized kinship terms (Cong and Li 2013Cong, Li, and Li Linin 丛丽, 李琳琳 2013 “Yujing shunying lilun shijiao xia qinshu chengweiyu de fanhua fanyi yanjiu 语境顺应理论视角下亲属称谓语的泛化翻译研究 [A Study on Translation of Extended Kinship Terms under the Framework of Context Adaptability Theory].” Jinlin huagong xueyuan xuebao 吉林化工学院学报 [Journal of Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology] (10): 28–31.).

Furthermore, it has been found that the generalized use of Chinese kinship terms is sensitive to a number of factors. These factors include: (1) the traditional family structure and social structure (Chen and Ren 2020Chen, Xinren, and Juanjuan Ren 2020 “A Memetic Cultural Practice: The Use of Generalized Kinship Terms in a Research Seminar Attended by Chinese Graduate Students.” Lingua 245: 1–11. ); (2) the interpersonal relationship network with the family relationship as the bond and outward extension along with the relative order (Pan 1998Pan, Pan 潘攀 1998 “Lun qinshu chengwei yu de fanhua 论亲属称谓语的泛化 [On Kinship Term Generalization].” Yuyan wenzi yingyong 语言文字应用 [Applied Linguistics] (2): 34–38.); and (3) the purpose of constructing a social, cultural, and/or family-based identity (Sandel 2002Sandel, Todd L. 2002 “Kinship Address: Socializing Young Children in Taiwan.” Western Journal of Communication 66 (8): 257–280. ; Zhu 2010Zhu, Hua 2010 “Language Socialization and Interculturality: Address Terms in Intergenerational Talk in Chinese Diasporic Families.” Language and Intercultural Communication 10 (3): 189–205. ).

2.4Research gaps

Overall, there have been abundant and substantive studies on address terms (e.g., Afful 2006Afful, J. B. Archibald 2006 “Address Terms among University Students in Ghana: A Case Study.” Language and Intercultural Communication 6 (1): 76–91. , 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Brown and Gilman 1960Brown, Roger, and Albert Gilman 1960 “The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity.” In Style in Language, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 253–276. Cambridge: MIT Press.; Sandel 2002Sandel, Todd L. 2002 “Kinship Address: Socializing Young Children in Taiwan.” Western Journal of Communication 66 (8): 257–280. ), including generalized address terms (e.g., Kueh 2013Kueh, Joshua 2013 “Adaptive Strategies of Parian Chinese Fictive Kinship and Credit in Seventeenth-century Manila.” Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints 61 (3): 362–384. ; Ren and Chen 2019Ren, Juanjuan, and Xinren Chen 2019 “Kinship Term Generalization as a Cultural Pragmatic Strategy among Chinese Graduate Students.” Pragmatics and Society 10 (4): 613–638. ). However, most of these studies address their use in face-to-face communication. It seems that little attention has been paid to the use of other-targeted address terms in online discourse. A number of questions may arise. For example, it remains unclear why the generalization of some subfamily address terms (e.g., érzi “son”) is widely found in virtual contexts, given that this violates the politeness principle (Fleming and Slotta 2018Fleming, Luke, and James Slotta 2018 “The Pragmatics of Kin Address: A Sociolinguistic Universal and Its Semantic Affordances.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 22 (4): 375–405. ). Researchers should also consider whether the generalized address terms in online discourse have the same functions as those in face-to-face communication, such as politeness, rapport management or identification (Nakassis 2014Nakassis, Constantine V. 2014 “Suspended Kinship and Youth Sociality in Tamil Nadu, India.” Current Anthropology 55 (2): 175–199. ; Quirk et al. 1985Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svatrvik 1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.). Moreover, it is curious why it is the case that, when address terms like “son” are generalized in online discourse, the addressers do not seem to consider the factors of power, age or gender difference (Carstarphen and Lambiase 1998Carstarphen, Meta G., and Jacqueline Johnson Lambiase 1998 “Domination and Democracy in Cyberspace: Reports from the Majority Media and Ethnic/Gender Margins.” In Cyberghetto or Cybertopia?: Race, Class, and Gender on the Internet, ed. by Bosah Ebo, 121–136. Westport & London: Praeger.; Fox et al. 2007Fox, Annie B., Danuta Bukatko, Mark Hallahan, and Mary Crawford 2007 “The Medium Makes a Difference Gender Similarities and Differences in Instant Messaging.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26 (4): 389–397. ), as if the social structure were broken down. This study will serve to fill these research gaps.

3.1Research questions

To fill the research gaps above, this study explores the phenomenon and rationale of generalized address terms in online discourse by taking the Chinese “son” (érzi; hereafter referred to simply as érzi) as an example. Specifically, three questions are going to be answered:

1. What are the referents of the address term érzi in online discourse?

2. What functions does the generalized use of address term érzi perform in online discourse?

3. Why do the Chinese WeChat users resort to the generalized use of address term érzi to perform these functions in online discourse?

3.2Data collection, identification, and calculation

This study collected data from WeChat users’ chatting records to answer its three questions. The chatting records include the users’ person-to-person chatting records, group chatting records, and a few posts on WeChat moments. The reason for collecting data from WeChat is that it is an online social networking medium that enables its addressers to be connected with friends and family, which has been widely used in 200 countries and by 800 million people. It is used not only by people in China but also by various Chinese-speaking communities worldwide (Li 2018Li, Jin 2018 “Digital Affordances on WeChat: Learning Chinese as a Second Language.” Computer Assisted Language Learning 31 (1–2): 27–52. ). WeChat’s wide use is owed to its two primary communicative features: First, it allows users to directly text and call each other or conduct a group chat via the ‘Chats’ feature. Second, it allows users to build an online community with friends by posting texts, photos, and video clips on their own “moments” (similar to Facebook’s news feed). By collecting data from WeChat, we can achieve a better understanding of the generalized use of address terms in online discourse.

To collect data on the address term érzi in WeChat, we randomly selected 10 (five male, five female) WeChat users ranging in age from 18 to 40. The 10 participants had varied occupations (e.g., teachers, students, researchers), and they came from seven major cities of China, such as Tianjin, Xi’an, and Chongqing. The data were collected from the users’ chatting and moment records. Through the data, the diversification of the address term érzi could be examined. Considering that age, gender, and socioeconomic status are critical factors for address terms (Afful 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Cao 2007Cao, Xianghong 2007 “The Effect of Age and Gender on the Choice of Address Forms in Chinese Personal Letters.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 11 (3): 392–407. ; Liu 2009Liu, Yonghou 2009 “Determinants of Stall-holders’ Address Forms to Customers in Beijing’s Low-status Clothing Markets.” Journal of Pragmatics 41: 638–648. ), the participants’ characteristics (including age, gender, and hometown) are listed in Table 1.

During the data collection process, the 10 WeChat users were asked to search their WeChat chatting records (including person-to-person chatting and group chatting) and moment records (including posts on moments and readers’ responses). Then, they handed over the chatting records or posts involving the use of the address term érzi voluntarily.

When sorting out the data, we found that some conversations had more than one érzi in a single excerpt. We then consistently identified each occurrence of érzi as a case. By calculation, we reached a total of 1,120 cases related to the address term érzi, which involved 596 addressers.

To guarantee the validity of the identification and calculation, the two researchers double-checked the process and reached a consensus. Ethical procedures were followed for data collection concerning obtaining consent and protecting the identity of participants.

3.3Data analysis

Based on the data collected from WeChat, we set out to answer the three research questions by adhering to the following data analysis procedures.

Question 1 was answered by analyzing the chatting records in WeChat or posts on WeChat moments. Over the course of the analysis, it was fairly easy to determine the referents of érzi because most of the addressers remarked on the addressee’s name or the relation with the addressee on WeChat. For example, the researcher could recognize the identity of the addressee as a father because there was the WeChat note “father” on the recordings provided by the participant. If there was no remark matching the addressed érzi, the researcher interviewed the addresser of érzi to identify its referents.

After the first step was completed, the study moved on to answer Question 2 by analyzing the same chatting records or posts and interviewing some of the addressers who used érzi. Specifically, when the researcher found that érzi had an extended meaning, the researcher analyzed the functions of érzi and the addresser’s intention. If the researcher was unsure of the address term’s function, the researcher interviewed the addresser to determine whether he/she used érzi for some specific function. Besides, the addressees’ or readers’ responses would also contribute to understanding the functions of érzi.

Finally, the discussion section will provide an answer to Question 3.

4.1Referents of the generalized address term érzi

Through the coding procedure, our identification of the referents of érzi yielded eight categories. The referents included the addressers’ male descendant, male classmate, male friend, boyfriend, female classmate, female friend, girlfriend, and pet. Among them, the address term érzi had a faithful meaning (or original meaning; McCarthy 2008McCarthy, John 2008 Doing Optimality Theory: Applying Theory to Data. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. ) when used to refer to the addresser’s male descendant. In Example (1), the addresser, a mother, used érzi to address her son when asking whether he is adapting to the new school. The érzi in Example (1) thus conveys a faithful meaning. Indeed, the faithful meaning instances of érzi constituted the vast majority. That is, about three-quarters of the cases (837/1120) conveyed faithful meaning. After all, this is the basis for the generalized use of the address term.

Apart from the canonical use, érzi is also found to convey some virtual meanings, as indicated by its seven other referents in our data. By virtual meaning, or extended meaning (Afful 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Dickey 2004Dickey, Eleanor 2004 “Literal and Extended Use of Kinship Terms in Documentary Papyri.” Mnemosyne 57 (2): 131–176. ; Kraska-Szlenk 2018Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona 2018 “Address Inversion in Swahili: Usage Patterns, Cognitive Motivation and Cultural Factors.” Cognitive Linguistics 29 (3): 545–583. ), we mean that the address term is not used to convey its original meaning but some other meanings not found in the dictionary. Such uses occurred frequently in our data, approximately in a quarter of the cases (283/1120). As observed, the seven referents of érzi used with a virtual meaning could be classified into three categories. In what follows, this section discusses the three categories separately based on examples from the collected data.

First, the generalized address term érzi in online discourse may refer to a male non-descendent. More specifically, the referents could be the addresser’s male classmate, male friend or boyfriend. Instances of these referents can be found in Examples (2)–(4). In Example (2), the address term érzi refers to the addresser’s boyfriend. A background investigation indicated the romantic relationship between the addresser and the addressee. The addresser always addresses her boyfriend as érzi in daily communication, which is a kind of sajiao style (Yueh 2017Yueh, Hsin-I. 2017 Identity Politics and Popular Culture in Taiwan: A Sajiao Generation. London: Lexington Books.). Here, while addressing her boyfriend as érzi, she is requesting that he give her a gift on Father’s Day. In the conversation, the addressee, B, also calls the addresser érzi, and jokes “do you still remember who you are?” The addressee is not blaming the addresser because of her sajiao words. Rather, the joking words of the addressee may enhance their romantic relationship.

In Example (3), the address term érzi refers to the addresser’s male classmate/roommate, Zhang Jia (nickname). These classmates/roommates generally call each other érzi in WeChat person-to-person chatting or group chatting. Here, the addresser tries to tease his classmate by addressing him with érzi. In response to the addresser, the addressee, Zhang Jia, sends him a GIF, which includes a doll holding a knife, and a sentence. The GIF means that Zhang Jia wants to give the addresser’s mum a knife. Literally, the addressee’s response could be interpreted as rapport threatening (Spencer-Otaey 2000Spencer-Oteay, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.), which is apparently impolite. However, in actuality, the impolite form of this GIF does not convey the addressee’s impolite intention. Instead, it works as a mock impoliteness strategy, which will contribute to maintaining interpersonal relationships (Taylor 2016Taylor, Charlotte 2016 Mock Politeness in English and Italian: A Corpus-assisted Metalanguage Analysis. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company. ).

Now, let’s consider Example (4), where the generalized address term érzi refers to the addresser’s male friend. Here, the addresser (a female) addresses B as érzi and states that she wants to do advertisements for B. The generalized address term érzi in this conversation is not used for the sake of conveying politeness (Hentschel 2013Hentschel, Elke 2013 “All Men Become Brothers: The Use of Kinship Terms for Non-related Persons as a Sign of Respect or Disrespect.” Linguistik Online 51: 1–12.) or expressing affection (Kraska-Szlenk 2018Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona 2018 “Address Inversion in Swahili: Usage Patterns, Cognitive Motivation and Cultural Factors.” Cognitive Linguistics 29 (3): 545–583. ). Rather, it demonstrates the addresser’s intimacy with the addressee, B. Besides, the addressee’s response “you are so handsome” also demonstrates their intimacy.

Second, the generalized address term érzi sometimes refers to a female non-descendant. Examples (5)–(7) are cases in point. The address term érzi in Example (5) refers to the addresser’s girlfriend. By saying, “Honey, when will you arrive…”, the addresser states what he is doing and expresses his expectation of B’s coming. We noticed that the addresser’s hometown is Chongqing, and he used Chongqing dialect frequently. In Example (5), “哟 (yo)” is an indicator of his Chongqing dialect. Thus, the generalized use of some address terms might be specific to some Chinese dialects (Ren and Chen 2019Ren, Juanjuan, and Xinren Chen 2019 “Kinship Term Generalization as a Cultural Pragmatic Strategy among Chinese Graduate Students.” Pragmatics and Society 10 (4): 613–638. ). We must also note that “哟 (yo)”, similarly to the mood auxiliary words “撒 (sa)” and “鸭 (ya)” in this conversation, enjoys an online usage widespread among WeChat users (Zhou 2019Zhou, Lei 周雷 2019 “Wangluo liuxing yu ‘X ya’ weitan 网络流行语‘X鸭’微探 [An Exploration of the Internet Buzzword ‘X ya (duck)’].” Hanzi wenhua 汉字文化 [Chinese Character Culture] 13: 103–106.). The generalized address term érzi, collocating with these words, indicates the addresser’s sajiao style (Yueh 2017Yueh, Hsin-I. 2017 Identity Politics and Popular Culture in Taiwan: A Sajiao Generation. London: Lexington Books.). More importantly, it implies the addresser’s attitude and involvement in a conversation, thus contributing to a harmonious communicative context (Lee et al. 2017Lee, Heeju, Danjie Su, and Hongyin Tao 2017 “A Crosslinguistic Study of Some Extended Uses of What-based Interrogative Expressions in Chinese, English, and Korean.” Chinese Language and Discourse 8 (2): 137–173. ).

The address term érzi in Example (6) refers to the addresser’s female roommate. Here, we can infer that the addresser wants to celebrate a birthday with her roommate B. Instead of addressing her roommate by name, the addresser uses érzi. As a response, B thanks the addresser, “蔷劳斯 (Miss Qiang)”. In this conversation, “劳斯” is a homophonic address term (Che 2019Che, Yuejiao 车越娇 2019 “Jiyu shehui yuyan xue de nvxing fensi yanyu shequ yanjiu 基于社会语言学的女性粉丝言语社区研究 [Research on the Speech Community of Female Fans Based on Sociolinguistics].” M.A. thesis, Bohai daxue 渤海大学 [Bohai University].) of lǎoshi (teacher), which is also frequently used in online discourse.

The addresser in Example (7) is a female who has graduated from college recently. By using the address term érzi, the addresser refers to her female colleague. Here, the addresser focuses on the fact that her colleague B has been slapped. In response to the addresser, B says, “our friendship boat is overturned”. The sentence literally means that they are not friends anymore. Actually, B’s words are meant as a joke, which does not entail any impolite intention (Taylor 2016Taylor, Charlotte 2016 Mock Politeness in English and Italian: A Corpus-assisted Metalanguage Analysis. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company. ).

Moreover, even though the address term érzi has a virtual meaning in Examples (2)–(3) and (4)–(6), there is a difference in the degree of identification. When érzi refers to a male, it is easier to identify because of human cognitive categories (Ungerer and Schmid 1996Ungerer, Friedrich, and Hans-Jörg Schmid 1996 An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics. London & New York: Longman.), whereas identification is more challenging when érzi is used to refer to a female.

Third, the generalized address term érzi also refers to the users’ pet (most of the time, it is the addresser’s pet dog). In Example (8), érzi refers to the addresser’s pet dog. When referring to the pet dog, the address term érzi also has a virtual meaning. Here, the addresser mentions a conversation with her dog. By addressing it as “baby” and “big son” (dà érzi), she implies her love for her pet. Addressing the dog as érzi is an example of cute playfulness, or a sajiao style frequently used in online discourse (Yueh 2017Yueh, Hsin-I. 2017 Identity Politics and Popular Culture in Taiwan: A Sajiao Generation. London: Lexington Books.).

4.2Functions of the generalized address term érzi

The faithful and virtual meaning of the address term érzi, as mentioned above, imply that érzi has different functions. When érzi is used as a non-generalized address term to convey its faithful meaning, it indexes a referential or descriptive function (cf. Jakobson 1960Jakobson, Roman 1960 “Linguistic and Poetics.” In Style in Language, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 350–377. Cambridge: MIT Press.; Lyons 1977Lyons, John 1977 Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) for the purpose of relationship maintenance (Spencer-Otaey 2000Spencer-Oteay, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.). However, when érzi is generalized to convey a virtual meaning, it will extend beyond the description or reference function, to enact social functions such as conveying politeness, as proposed by Chen (1984)Chen, Songcen 陈松岑 1984 “Beijing chengqu liangdairen dui shang yi bei qinshu shiyong qinshu chengwei de bianhua 北京城区两代人对上一辈亲属使用亲属称谓的变化 [The Changes of Using Kinship Terms to Address Non-kins from the Previous Generation in Beijing Downtown].” Yuwen Yanjiu 语文研究 [Linguist Research] 2: 43–49. and Wang (2006)Wang, Na 王娜 2006 “Xiandai hanyu qinshu chengwei yu de fan hua yanjiu 现代汉语亲属称谓语的泛化研究 [A Study on the Modern Chinese Kinship Term Generalization].” M. A. Thesis, Qufu shifan daxue 曲阜师范大学 [Qufu Normal University]., among others. To demonstrate the functions of the generalized érzi, this section will analyse some examples from the collected data. Besides, we will support our analysis with feedback from our interviews with some of the addressers.

A noticeable function of the generalized address term érzi in online discourse is relationship enhancement (Spencer-Otaey 2000Spencer-Oteay, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.). This echoes some prior studies on the relationship enhancement function of kinship address terms (e.g., Hampel 2015Hampel, Elisabeth 2015 “ ‘Mama Zimbi, Pls Help Me!’ – Gender Differences in (Im)politeness in Ghanaian English Advice-giving on Facebook.” Journal of Politeness Research 11 (1): 99–130. ; Mavunga et al. 2014Mavunga, George, John Mutambwa, and Partson Kutsaru 2014 “ ‘Iwe’ or ‘imi’? An Analysis of Terms of Address Used by Police Officers at Mbare Police Station.” Language Matters 45 (1): 148–161. ). Following prior studies that focused on the relationship maintenance function of family members with a higher rank (Dickey 1997Dickey, Eleanor 1997 “Forms of Address and Terms of Reference.” Journal of Linguistics 33: 255–274. ), we find that the generalized descendant address term érzi has a similar function. For example, when the addressers say “honey, when will you arrive” (Example [5]) and “happy birthday, dog son (gǒu érzi)” (Example [6]), they always use a friendly tone. Like many other address terms, the generalized address term érzi expresses closeness and solidarity between the addresser and the addressee (Hampel 2015Hampel, Elisabeth 2015 “ ‘Mama Zimbi, Pls Help Me!’ – Gender Differences in (Im)politeness in Ghanaian English Advice-giving on Facebook.” Journal of Politeness Research 11 (1): 99–130. ). The addressees’ responses in these examples imply that their relationship with the addresser is not challenged but enhanced. For example, when the addresser wishes the addressee a happy birthday and calls her “dog son”, the addressee is not angry but instead thanks the addresser. We also found supporting evidence of this in the interviews with the addressers. When one of the interviewees was asked why he used “son” to refer to his friend, he said, “I use ‘son’ only when he/she is a friend of mine. However, when he/she is a stranger, I would not use it”. Through the examples and interviews, it can be observed that the address term érzi, like other address terms (Mühlhäusler and Harré 1990Mühlhaüsler, Peter, and Rom Harré 1990 Pronouns and People: The Linguistic Construction of Social and Personal Identity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.; Zhu 2010Zhu, Hua 2010 “Language Socialization and Interculturality: Address Terms in Intergenerational Talk in Chinese Diasporic Families.” Language and Intercultural Communication 10 (3): 189–205. ), can work as a relationship enhancement device.

Secondly, the generalized address term érzi in Chinese online discourse is also used in jocular abuse. Previous studies have shown that address terms may have the function of teasing or jocular abuse (Afful 2010Afful, J. B. Archibald 2010 “Address Forms among University Students in Ghana: A Case of Gendered Identities?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 31 (5): 443–456. ; Chen 2019Chen, Xinren 2019 “ ‘You’re a Nuisance!’: ‘Patch-up’ Jocular Abuse in Chinese Fiction.” Journal of Pragmatics 139: 52–63. ). However, there is no literature indicating that kin terms may also have this function. That is, no research has been conducted on the relation between kin terms and jocular abuse. The data collected from WeChat chatting records demonstrate that some address terms (such as érzi) also have the jocular abuse function. For example, when the addresser in Example (2) said, “Good and well-behaved son (érzi guāi), remember to do the same on Father’s Day!”, she was trying to tease the addressee. In response to the address, the addressee also called his girlfriend érzi in a teasing tone. This teasing tone when calling each other érzi lends support to Sandel et al.’s (2019)Sandel, Todd L., Chuyue Ou, Dorji Wangchuk, Bei Ju, and Miguel Duque 2019 “Unpacking and Describing Interaction on Chinese WeChat: A Methodological Approach.” Journal of Pragmatics 143: 228–241. argument that WeChat affords playfulness in interaction. To confirm the jocular abuse function of érzi, we interviewed some of the addressers. An interviewee replied, “I have a good relationship with my roommate. I call him ‘son’ to tease”. Another interviewee said, “Sometimes, I call my boyfriend ‘son’ for teasing. For example, when my boyfriend asked me for help, I would say ‘call me papa’”. Thus, it is clear from the examples and interviews that the address term érzi is deliberately used with a jocular abuse function, especially when the referent is the addresser’s close friend or boyfriend.

In addition, the address term érzi could enact the function of expressing the addresser’s fondness of his/her pet. For example, when saying, “baby, big son (dà érzi), go to sleep” (Example [8]), the addresser refers to her pet dog. Besides this, the interview also provided evidence that érzi can express the addressers’ favor to their pets. For example, an interviewee said, “I would call my pet ‘son’ to show my favor to it. I love the pet as my real son”. It can be observed from the examples and interviews that one particular function of the generalized address term érzi is to express the addresser’s affection towards his/her pets. This finding of an emotional function may enrich prior studies of Chinese generalized terms’ functions (Chen 1984Chen, Songcen 陈松岑 1984 “Beijing chengqu liangdairen dui shang yi bei qinshu shiyong qinshu chengwei de bianhua 北京城区两代人对上一辈亲属使用亲属称谓的变化 [The Changes of Using Kinship Terms to Address Non-kins from the Previous Generation in Beijing Downtown].” Yuwen Yanjiu 语文研究 [Linguist Research] 2: 43–49.; Chen and Ren 2020Chen, Xinren, and Juanjuan Ren 2020 “A Memetic Cultural Practice: The Use of Generalized Kinship Terms in a Research Seminar Attended by Chinese Graduate Students.” Lingua 245: 1–11. ; Wang 2006Wang, Na 王娜 2006 “Xiandai hanyu qinshu chengwei yu de fan hua yanjiu 现代汉语亲属称谓语的泛化研究 [A Study on the Modern Chinese Kinship Term Generalization].” M. A. Thesis, Qufu shifan daxue 曲阜师范大学 [Qufu Normal University].).

In sum, the virtual meaning of érzi, in contrast to its faithful meaning, has some special functions such as relationship enhancement, jocular abuse, and expressing affection towards pets.