The use of address pronouns by Egyptian adults: A sociolinguistic study

Abstract

The use of address forms varies from one language community to another. Our findings, however, confirm predictions made by Brown and Gilman concerning the influence of social class and political views on changes in address system. ‘Non-reciprocity’, along the power dimension observed by Brown and Gilman, is claimed to be rapidly disappearing in Western Europe, to be replaced by a system based primarily on relative distance. This claim is actually mitigated by our findings in Egyptian society. We argue that the solidaristic, democratic, and universal forms of address, at least in Egyptian society, are in fact a version of an old elitist system tied to many of the same signals of class differences that used to determine address forms in the feudal system. The major differences is that the choice of address pronouns is reversed. This reflects eventually a problem inherent in many changing social systems, and involves, furthermore, the influence of various institutions in trying to reestablish norms during what is obviously a transitional period in Egyptian history.