National and Cultural Specifics of Appellatives in Russian and Chinese Speech Etiquette

Abstract

Appellative is one of the most important components of speech etiquette. It produces vivid expression of a certain relationship between human beings, social and national specificity of speech etiquette. According to the author, in comparison with the other components of speech etiquette, appellative has more vivid socially marked, evaluative and connotative signs, which serve the finest labels of the character of the communicators’ relationship. In this paper, the researcher examines the speech etiquette in comparative aspect, principally from the perspective of sociolinguistics. The difference in the social and cultural background of the two languages affects the usage of speech etiquette. Typical errors of Chinese students in speech etiquette are predominantly characteristics of habit and are concerned with interference. So, the study of speech etiquette in comparative aspect makes it possible to find the cause of errors of Chinese students. Since the appellative begins a conversation and defines its basic tone between the interlocutors, it must be precisely mastered by the Chinese students in order to avoid violations of the basic rules of Russian speech etiquette. The comparison of the Russian speech etiquette with the Chinese one allows to reveal the difficulties and possible areas of interference in the verbal behaviour of Chinese students. Hence the characteristics of this article. The article gives the classification of the Russian appellative in relation to the Chinese and points out the most difficult cases for Chinese students. The article will be helpful for those who are interested in studying Russian and Chinese appellatives.