Chapter 3 Creating and maintaining identity: personal reference to others . 17
3.3. Attitudes towards address terms
3.3.3. Polish results
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Table 28: Japanese address to higher ranked persons
When talking to a higher ranking person (eg. boss in the workplace or teacher at school), how do you address that person?
Answer Options ɸ +san +sama +chan +kun Response Count
FIRST NAME 1 13 1 0 0 13
LAST NAME 2 29 1 0 0 29
NICKNAME 0 3 0 0 0 3
KINSHIP TERMS
(E.G. PAPA) 0 1 1 0 0 2
RANK NAME
(E.G. BUCHO) 31 11 1 0 0 40
OMAE 0 1 0 0 0 1
KIMI 0 1 0 0 0 1
ANATA 0 1 1 0 0 2
ANTA 0 1 0 0 0 1
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 4
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endearing Maciuś. Similarly, the standard word for“doughnut” – pączek – can be changed to pączuś, with the same effect.
Second, Japanese nicknames can be derived from family names as well as first names, e.g. a holder of the family name Matsumoto can be endearingly called Macchan, while someone whose first name is Kintarō can be called Kin-chan. But in Polish attempting to use last names as a basis for diminutives would be highly unusual.
PERSONAL NICKNAME – an informal manner of address derived from a person’s characteristics. The examples given refer to physical appearance:
Rudy “ginger, a red-haired person” and Gruby “fat, fatso.” Compared to the diminutives described above, these nicknames are less restricted as a class, more open to individual creativity.
GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT – analogues of terms such as honey, darling, buddy, bro or sweetheart. Similarly to diminutives and nicknames they express familiarity, but unlike them they reference neither the names nor the characteristics of the addressed people, although the frequency of their use will still vary depending on factors such as the gender or age of the people involved.
Unlike the Japanese group, Polish respondents were not specifically asked about their use of second person pronouns. In Polish, those forms typically appear together with certain address terms and not with others. Unmodified first and last names, diminutive names, nicknames and terms of endearment are compatible with the second person pronoun. Official titles or any form modified with the title Pan/Pani will be used together with a third person address instead16. Only kinship terms allow more flexibility, and in their case the choice between the second and third person will depend on the emotional closeness of the people involved.
The table below shows how Polish respondents would like to be called
16 Addressing the divine in prayers is an interesting exception. Despite the fact that from a Christian viewpoint God is located as far up as one can be in any hierarchy, he is addressed with a combination of Pan and the second person pronoun. Perhaps it can be said that the connection between God and a believer is simultaneously extremely hierarchical and exceptionally intimate.
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by their children. Kinship terms dominate, being chosen by 84.8% of the speakers, but interestingly “unmodified first name” was also a fairly common answer (24.8%). This is a sign of ongoing shift in Polish child-to-parent address.
None of the teenage informants contacted by Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak (1999) chose first name as an appropriate way to address their parents, and only one of them considered it to be even a “remote possibility.” However, even in 1999 it was also chosen more often by Poles than Japanese speakers, who only picked it 6% of the time. Although using a kinship term when talking to one’s mother or father can express intimacy, the particular term will inevitably be employed asymmetrically, e.g. a boy may call his parent “mother,” but she will call him “son,” if she chooses to use a kinship term at all. Some speakers may prefer to illustrate the relationship with their children using equal terms, hence the potentially reciprocal first name. As the results will show, first names are used in Japan less often in most situations as they are often limited to relations with the highest degree of intimacy. Still, they are not often employed in the highly intimate dyad of parent and child. This may be because the relation is seen as hierarchical: even if there is intimacy and friendliness, it is not appropriate for the people involved to treat each other as equals.
Table 29: Polish address from own children
When talking to your own children, how would you like to be addressed? Please select any number of acceptable terms. If you do not have children, the question can be skipped.
Answer Options Response
Percent17 Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 4.1% 6
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 2.1% 3
FIRST NAME 24.8% 36
LAST NAME 0.0% 0
Pan(i) + DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 4.1% 6
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 11.7% 17
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 7.6% 11 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT (e.g. misiu,
kochanie, stary, chłopie) 17.9% 26
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 84.8% 123 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 3.4% 5
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 6.9% 10
17 If the respondents thought that more than one address term was desirable in a given situation, they were able to choose multiple options. That is why the total percentage of positive responses tends to exceed 100 percent.
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The potential reciprocity is evident when we examine the other direction of address in this relation, as the most commonly chosen answer is “first name only.” Kinship terms were also chosen, but less frequently. This general pattern is similar to the answers of Japanese speakers, who were more likely to choose kinship terms as the desirable term in cases in which someone from the younger generation speaks to someone older.
A significant portion of the chosen forms comprised of diminutive derivatives of first names. The Polish language permits the transformation of almost any noun, adjective or adverb into a diminutive. In case of words with physical referents, the transformed version brings to mind something smaller in size than the original. For instance, the word piłka will usually refer to objects such as soccer balls or volleyballs, whereas the diminutive piłeczka is more fitting when referring to table tennis balls. However, size is not the only trait that can be affected by this transformation. It also conveys affect, potentially attributing “cuteness” to the referent, or expressing a friendly attitude towards it. According to Wierzbicka (1985 : 169), the connotation of diminutives is represented by the following thoughts:
“I think of it as something small.”
“Talking about it I feel good feelings (towards you) of the kind one feels in contact with small children.”
But it needs to be remembered that as the other side of the same coin, diminutives can also be used as a dismissive slight, in which case the “cuteness”
is construed as a lack of maturity or power. The diminutives may constrain semantic categories more rigidly. For example, a star as a celestial body can be referred to as gwiazda (standard) or gwiazdka (diminutive), depending on the speaker’s choice. But the asterisk key on a keyboard will only be referred to with the latter term, which – when used as a proper noun – can also be another name for Christmas.
When used as an address term, the diminutive form of a first name is more familiar and endearing than the first name alone. Addressing children with it can be considered typical, since in such cases the implied relative small size and immaturity are quite literal. Polish diminutives in address have a
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similar meaning to Japanese forms modified by the suffix –chan, and in the current study a similar pattern in their usage can be observed in the two national groups.
The address choices suggested by the survey were intentionally broad.
The idea was to present the exact same set of choices for each relationship, to avoid directing the respondents towards any particular form and preserving their own choice. Similar to the Japanese respondents, the Poles commented that some of the choices provided by the survey would be very unlikely to be employed in real life. This even led to some respondents complaining that the survey is unnecessarily complex, because some forms will never be used in certain relationships (e.g. using official titles in child-parent relationships).
But in fact, only two kinds of address were not chosen by any respondent:
wanting to be addressed with a general term of endearment such as “darling”
by (1) a stranger or by (2) a higher ranking person. All of the other possible combinations were selected at least once. Although some strong patterns emerge in data (over 90% of speakers choosing a certain form), there is considerable variation among the outlying answers. Perhaps some speakers choose unusual forms on purpose for comedic effect. In the particular case of parents addressing children, an atypically formal term may be used when scolding or showing annoyance (see Holmes 2001:13). In any case, it is clear that there is plenty of flexibility in how address terms are used.
When talking to one’s own children, using a general term of endearment was a common choice (45% of the respondents). Besides the ones provided as examples within the survey, further examples can be found in the conversations recorded for this dissertation:
Example 1
Lisa: Co, diable? Co, diabełku?
Lisa: What, you devil? What, you little devil?
Example 2
Lisa: Co, królewno? […] Jeszcze, kochanie? […] Klucho mała.
Lisa: What, princess? […] Do you want more, love? […] You little noodle.
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In the first example, a Polish woman in her thirties is addressing her toddler son. In the second, her newborn daughter. Terms like “princess” or “love” show affection, the former by symbolically elevating the child to an aristocratic rank (and suggesting luxury and privilege she might enjoy), the latter in a more directly emotional manner.
However, the other two forms of address are not so endearing on the surface. Both diable and klucho, vocatives of “devil” and“noodle” respectively, could be seen as insulting in a different context, for example when used to address an unfamiliar adult. A devil is a mythical manifestation of evil, while the comparison to a noodle most likely refers to the body shape of the child, as evidenced by another utterance by the mother in which she makes a coneection between the child’s weight gain and the word she uses to describe her:
Lisa: Przybrałam dużo. Klucha jestem.
Lisa: I’ve gained a lot of weight. I’m a noodle18.
The mother does not mean to insult or scold the child, as is clear from the gentle tone of her voice. Calling the son a “devil” is not so much a reference to evil as it is to childish mischief and obstinacy, which are addressed in the moment (Lisa scolds her son for being stubborn and capricious in another part of the conversation), but which can be tolerated in the long run. The facetious character of this address is further reinforced by the diminutive form used after it: diabełku “you little devil.” Incidentally “little devil” in Japanese – koakuma – is a highly gendered term representing women who allegedly use charm and deception to manipulate others, especially men. It can more specifically refer to a subculture recognizable by a characteristic fashion style, reified in the fashion magazine Koakuma Ageha marketed to teenage girls and young women. Unlike the address term used by Lisa in the recording, the term has unmistakeably sexual connotations in Japanese, but the contradictory mixture of innocence and mischief is a common point between the mother’s expression
18 Note that the mother speaks from the perspective of her daughter, creating speech for her. This phenomenon – as seen in this recording and in general – is discussed in chapter 5.
81 and the Japanese term.
Table 30: Polish address to own children
When talking to your own children, how do you address them? Please select any number of acceptable terms. If you do not have children, the question can be skipped.
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 9.2% 12 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 3.8% 5
FIRST NAME 72.5% 95
LAST NAME 2.3% 3
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 3.1% 4
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 61.8% 81
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 18.3% 24 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 45.0% 59
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 61.1% 80 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 5.3% 7
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 6.1% 8
In conversations with the children of others, first name combined with the honorific pan (for males) or pani (for females) is the most common choice. This form may be a good compromise between formality and casualness. Unmodified first name was also chosen often, perhaps by younger speakers, or those who do not want to construe the relation as hierarchical.
Table 31: Polish address from others' children
When talking to other people’s children, how would you like to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 68.3% 179 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 9.5% 25
FIRST NAME 46.2% 121
LAST NAME 0.8% 2
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 14.1% 37
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 9.5% 25
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 3.8% 10 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 2.3% 6
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 28.2% 74 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 9.9% 26
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 7.3% 19
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Addressing the children of others seems to follow a similar pattern to addressing one’s own progeny. Unmodified first name and diminutive first name dominate. However, fewer respondents chose kinship terms or general terms of endearment. The reasons for the former are obvious, while the latter may be explained by a smaller degree of intimacy in this relationship compared to the other.
Table 32: Polish address to others' children
When talking to other people’s children, how do you address them?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 17.9% 47 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 4.6% 12
FIRST NAME 86.3% 226
LAST NAME 1.1% 3
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 6.1% 16
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 43.1% 113
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 9.2% 24 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 14.5% 38 KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 10.7% 28 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 3.8% 10
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.9% 5
When communicating with a partner in a relationship, most surveyed Poles said that they prefer being called with an umodified first name. General terms of endearment came second, chosen by 71.8% of respondents, while diminutive first names and personal nicknames followed. A romantic relationship is characterized by a high degree of intimacy, sometimes as high as in a family.
However, depending on the stage of the relationship the partners may not be treated as a family member. Hence the proportion of kinship terms among the answers is fairly low.
83 Table 33: Polish address from partner
When talking to a partner in a relationship (eg. wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend) how would you like to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 2.3% 6
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 1.1% 3
FIRST NAME 81.7% 214
LAST NAME 1.9% 5
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 3.1% 8
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 58.0% 152
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 29.0% 76 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 71.8% 188
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 16.0% 42 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 2.3% 6
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 3.1% 8
Both directions of address follow similar patterns in this relationship.
Table 34: Polish address to partner
When talking to a partner in a relationship (eg. Wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend) how do you address that partner?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 2.3% 6
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 1.5% 4
FIRST NAME 85.5% 224
LAST NAME 6.5% 17
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 3.1% 8
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 60.7% 159
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 32.1% 84 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 68.3% 179
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 16.0% 42 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 2.7% 7
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 3.8% 10
When talking to other adult family members a vast majority (96.9%) of Polish respondents said that an unmodified first name is desirable. Nicknames, diminutive first names and terms of endearment were also chosen, but less frequently than in a romantic relationship. Kinship terms, on the other hand, were more common. All interactions between adult relatives in modern-day Poland are linguistically fairly informal compared to past time periods, but the
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degree of emotional closeness may vary greatly depending on the interactants.
Table 35: Polish address from adult family
When talking to other adult family members, how would you like to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 1.9% 5
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 0.4% 1
FIRST NAME 96.9% 254
LAST NAME 0.4% 1
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 0.8% 2
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 37.0% 97
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 15.3% 40 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 14.9% 39
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 33.2% 87 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 1.9% 5
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 0.4% 1
In the other direction of address, names become somewhat less common, while the percentage of kinship terms increases to 74.0%. This asymmetry can most likely be explained by age differences. Despite both of the interactant being adults, the generation they belong to is likely to affect address.
Table 36: Polish address to adult family
When talking to other adult family members, how do you address them?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 4.6% 12 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 1.1% 3
FIRST NAME 84.7% 222
LAST NAME 2.3% 6
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 1.1% 3
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 30.5% 80
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 12.6% 33 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 11.8% 31
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 74.0% 194 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 1.1% 3
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.5% 4
When communicating with close friends, an unmodified first name is also a
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dominant for of address among Poles (92.7%). Terms of endearment or diminutives are other relatively common choices. Formal terms are predictably rare.
These results are somewhat similar to those in family relations.
Certainly, the closeness or intimacy is a shared characteristic of the two settings. However, in the case of close friends personal nicknames are also chosen by the majority of speakers (58%). These forms act as an identity specific to a certain group of friends or acquaintances and can be derived as a non-standard form of that person’s name or surname. Other references can include the physical or mental traits of the addressed person a memorable episode in which that person played a prominent role, etc. They are co-constructed in the sense that they can be proposed by the addressed person or the potential addressers. However, in the case of such informal address there is rarely any official obligation to use a particular nickname, and so the choice to use it or not depends on the adressers’ volition. That choice may be made because the speakers like the nickname for some reason, e.g. they find it amusing or endearing, but also in some cases simply because the nickname has achieved a certain “critical mass” as an identifier of the addressed person. In the conversation described in the previous section of this chapter, the speakers talk about someone from their childhood, struggling to remember his first name but having no difficulty recalling his surname. The same can happen to a nickname – it can see such widespread use that in some social circles its owner’s “real” name may fall into obscurity (or never emerge from it in the first place).
86 Table 37: Polish address from close friends
When talking to close friends, how would you like to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 1.5% 4
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 1.1% 3
FIRST NAME 92.7% 243
LAST NAME 4.2% 11
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 1.1% 3
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 44.3% 116
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 58.0% 152 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 27.5% 72 KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 4.2% 11 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 2.3% 6
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.1% 3
The pattern of address is similar in the opposite direction, once again suggesting an egalitarian relation.
Table 38: Polish address to close friends
When talking to close friends, how do you address them?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count
pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 2.7% 7
pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 1.1% 3
FIRST NAME 96.6% 253
LAST NAME 9.5% 25
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 1.1% 3
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 51.9% 136
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 64.1% 168 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 32.4% 85
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 4.2% 11 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 2.3% 6
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.5% 4
Compared to closer friendly relationships, when being addressed by somewhat more distant acquaintances the speakers choose unmodified first names slightly less often, but it is still the most common choice by far (87%). That is in strong contrast to the Japanese results, where those forms are reserved for the most intimate relations. The frequencies of diminutives, nicknames and
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terms of endearment drop more significantly, while first names with honorifics become more common as speakers expect some moderate formality. However, the juxtaposition of an honorific with a diminutive first name was in this setting also too formal for close relations and too informal for those not so close.
Table 39: Polish address from acquaintances
When talking to acquaintances with whom you are not very close, how do you want to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 26.3% 69 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 5.7% 15
FIRST NAME 87.0% 228
LAST NAME 3.4% 9
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 5.0% 13
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 12.6% 33
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 11.5% 30 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 1.9% 5
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 0.8% 2 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 7.6% 20
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.1% 3
In address from respondents to casual acquaintances, names with honorifics are chosen more often, while nicknames and diminutives are less common.
Table 40: Polish address to acquaintances
When talking to acquaintances with whom you are not very close, how do you address them?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 38.9% 102 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 9.5% 25
FIRST NAME 84.7% 222
LAST NAME 3.1% 8
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 4.2% 11
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 9.2% 24
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 9.2% 24 GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 1.1% 3
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 1.5% 4 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 10.3% 27
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 1.9% 5
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When communicating with strangers, far fewer respondents want to be called only by their first name (29%). This is still, however, a significant portion of speakers compared to the Japanese data. In this situation, first name combined with an honorific is far more desirable (76.7%), while surname with aｎ honorific takes second place. Official titles, such as profession related “doctor,”
rise to 22.9%. This is still much less frequent than name-related terms, but that is to be expected, since not everyone holds a position or title which would qualify them to receive those special address terms.
Table 41: Polish address from strangers
When talking to strangers, how do you want to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 76.7% 201 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 32.8% 86
FIRST NAME 29.0% 76
LAST NAME 1.9% 5
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 3.1% 8
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 1.5% 4
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 1.5% 4
GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 0.0% 0
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 0.4% 1 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 22.9% 60
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 5.3% 14
When addressing strangers, the patterns are similar, but slightly more formality can be seen. Unmodified name drops from 29.0% to 20.2%, while surname with an honorific rises from 32.8% to 43.9% and official titles from 22.9% to 35.5%. Perhaps this is a precaution taken by the speakers. Even if they themselves don’t require such a degree of formality, at first they have no way of knowing what the hearers expect, and so they start out with forms slightly more formal than what they actually think is appropriate in this kind of relation.
89 Table 42: Polish address to strangers
When talking to strangers, how do you address them?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 77.9% 204 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 43.9% 115
FIRST NAME 20.2% 53
LAST NAME 1.9% 5
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 1.9% 5
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 1.1% 3
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 1.5% 4
GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 0.4% 1
KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 0.4% 1 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 35.5% 93
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 6.9% 18
When talking to superiors, most respondents choose to be called by their first name combined with an honorific (73.7%). Unmodified first name comes second (42.7%) while surname with an honorific takes third place (30.2%).
Table 43: Polish address from higher ranking persons
When talking to a higher ranking person (eg. boss in the workplace or teacher at school), how do you want to be addressed?
Answer Options Response
Percent Response Count pan(i) + FIRST NAME (e.g. pan Marek) 73.7% 193 pan(i) + FAMILY NAME (e.g. pani Kowalska) 30.2% 79
FIRST NAME 42.7% 112
LAST NAME 1.9% 5
Pan(i) + DIMINIUTIVE FIRST NAME
(e.g. pan Mareczek) 4.2% 11
DIMINUTIVE FIRST NAME (e.g. Zuzia) 2.3% 6
PERSONAL NICKNAME (e.g. Gruby, Rudy) 2.7% 7
GENERAL TERM OF ENDEARMENT
(e.g. misiu, kochanie, stary, chłopie) 0.0% 0 KINSHIP TERM (e.g. bracie, mamo, synu) 0.4% 1 OFFICIAL RANK (e.g. pani doktor, panie sierżancie) 28.6% 75
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY) 2.7% 7
Much more formality can be observed in the other direction of address. Forms based on first names are less common, while the percentage of surnames with titles rises to 35.5%. The most distinct difference is the number of people who chose official titles. This is the only situation in which more than half of the