Berat Baser

Turkish and American Address Forms in the Family Berat Baser

Address forms can be very problematic in intercultural communication because different languages have different forms available at their disposal. This book provides a comparison of how Turkish and American people address each other in the family, since literature on this topic is scarce. The definitions of key address forms, theories of politeness and address, and a description of the address systems in Turkish and English (with a particular focus on contemporary American English) are included. Turkish and American address forms used in the family have been compared in this book, using original data collected for this purpose by the author. This book also presents possible explanations as to why the differences between the address forms in the two languages were found. This study should help English as a second/ foreign language teachers enable their students whose native language is Turkish to become competent communicators in the target culture. It also gives insights to Turkish-language instructors teaching Turkish to Americans, and generally, to anybody who is striving to become a competent communicator in either of these cultures.