1 IntroductionIn address system,title refers tothe formof nomenclature indicating a person’s status(e.g.professor,queen)or used as formof address or reference(e.g.Lord,Your Grace)<1>.Titles are a kind of address forms broadly usedin social interactions.Titles in Chinese and English can be further dividedintofive sub-groups:social titles,occu-pational/professional titles,official titles,militarytitle and academic titles.The focus of this paper is common socialtitles in Chinese.Societyis mobile and changes constantly.Accordingly,as time passes on,language also changes.And addressforms cannot avoidthe natural lawof change.Address forms may change synchronically withthe variation of situationor the interpersonal relationship of participants,or diachronically with the development of times.Address forms aresensitive indicators of social change.Sothe change of address forms is in certain ways the reflection of the change ofsociety.The use of addressforms will also be changing withthetime passingon.Some addressforms may become ob-solete and discarded,others may evolve fromold ones and are endowed with newconnotations,and newones may becreated.Suchis the diachronic change of address forms.It is a problempending discussion whether previous studieson addressforms can describe andreflect this phenomena betweenthe end of 20thcentury andthe beginningof the 21stcentury.The discussion on diachronic changes of common social titles in Chinese is born at the right moment.2 Common social titles in Chinese and their diachronic changesThe mainforms of commonsocial titles nowusedin Chineseincludetongzhi(同志),shifu(师傅),xianshen g(先生),xiaojie(小姐),taitai(太太),furen(夫人),n椃shi(女士),laoshi(老师),etc.Theirusages andtheir diachronic changes are to be elaborated here.2.1 TongzhiTongzhiwas once greatly promoted by Chinese Communist Partytoreplace othertitles onthe intentionto give allthe people an equal footingin address regardless of their social,economic,professional or gender distinctions,andtounite thempolitically.During The Cultural Revolution(1966-1976),many people were deprived of the qualificationof beingrated astongzhi.Later,tongzhi is mainly usedto address army men,policemen,officials or evenstrangers,withits frequency dramatically reduced than before.In 1983,Zhu Wanjin and Scotton wrote the articleTongzhiinChina:Language Change andits Conversational Consequencesand found out that tongzhi occurred in seven differentpermutations:1.φ+Tongzhi:i.e.,tongzhi,comrade;2.Given Name+Tongzhi:i.e.,weiguo tongzhi,comrade weiguo;3.Modifier+Tongzhi:i.e.,lao tongzhi,old comrade,xiao tongzhi,young comrade;4.φ+Title+Tongzhi:i.e.,zhurentongzhi,comrade director;5.Family Name+Tongzhi:i.e.,Wangtongzhi,comradeWang;6.Family Name+Given Name+Tongzhi:i.e.,Wang Weiguo tongzhi,comradeWang Weiguo;7.Modifier+Family Name+Tongzhi:i.e.,lao Wangtongzhi,old comradeWang<2>.Nowadays,the termtongzhige(同志哥)is sometimes heardto address a certain male.Anotherinteresting phe-nomenonis that some young people may hate to be addressed astongzhibecause guys are addressed or often addresseach other withtongzhiinsome novels,TVplays orfilms,thatis,tongzhiis somewhat considered asthe equivalenceof“homoerotism”.2.2 ShifuThe address formshifuhas a long history.In ancient times,monks or Taoists were usually addressed asshifu.Accordingtothe ancient classicChunqiu Guliang(《春秋毂梁传·昭公十九年》),shifuwas originally an honorifictermusedto addressteachers<3>.Later,shifubecame atermemployed by apprenticeto address his or her master whopassed onthe skills.Thenit became a popular addressformsfor workers and craftsmen withthe raisedstatus of them.During The Cultural Revolution,shifu were popularized because of the high-status of the workingclass.Withthelessfrequent use oftongzhiat present,shifunowbecomes one of the most commonsocial addressformsin Chinaregardlessof the addressees’social,economic,professional or gender distinctions.Thoughit may be employedto address peoplefromdifferent walks of life,shifuis more likelyto add
More summaries about the 汉语通用社交称呼语及其历时变化(英文)