Normativity and Variation in the Address Terms System Practiced among the Jordanian Youth Community

This study investigates the key forms of address used amongst Jordanian university students, the impact of gender on using these forms and what accounts for the variation in their address system. By addressing the issue of normativity and heterogeneity in the use of address terms, in different social settings, the study enriches the understanding of the internal variation of the address term system. Data collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were analysed, based on Watts' discursive approach to politeness and Agha's approach of indexicality. The results revealed that the identified normative patterns represent Jordanian university politic behaviours, which index different social meanings and relations among the youth community, in relation to specific social contexts. The most frequent strategies university students use for addressing others are personal names, innovative terms, descriptive phrases, pronouns, titles, teknonyms, and religious, military, attention attractors, as well as a combination of these terms. It also seems that there are no absolute stable patterns of address term usage among the youth community, speaking Jordanian Arabic. Rather, there is an infinite society-internal heterogeneity in the address terms usage. The results also revealed that an intra-group variation signifies social struggles over the norms of address term usage and potentially normative incertitude.

Automated summary

This study explores the various forms of address used by Jordanian university students, the influence of gender on these forms, and the factors contributing to the variation in their address system. The research enhances the understanding of the internal variation in the use of address terms by addressing the issue of normativity and heterogeneity in different social settings. The findings indicate that the identified normative patterns reflect the political behaviors of Jordanian university students and signify different social meanings and relationships within the youth community, depending on specific social contexts. The most common strategies used by university students for addressing others include personal names, innovative terms, descriptive phrases, pronouns, titles, teknonyms, and religious, military, attention attractors, as well as a combination of these terms. It is also noted that there is no absolute stable pattern of address term usage among the Jordanian Arabic-speaking youth community, indicating an infinite society-internal heterogeneity in the use of address terms. The results also suggest that intra-group variation represents social struggles over the norms of address term usage and potential normative uncertainty.