[lit-ideas] Re: On Names and Respect

  • From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 09:53:24 +0900

On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 5:36 AM, Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think this is a metaphysical answer to what is surely (if it's anything) a
> sociological or psychological problem. I have no idea what research
> Heidegger did to arrive at his conclusion....
>
> You feel as you feel. Perhaps the fact that we teach at different
> institutions—different sorts of institutions—explains our different views.
>
>
The book is at home, so I cannot check the exact reference; but I recall an
article, I believe it was in the Dell Hymes *Language, Culture and
Society* reader,
that noted the similarity between professors saying to their students,
"Please call X (where X is a first name)" to the French invitation to
"tutoyer" (use "tu" the informal form of the second person pronoun, instead
of the more formal "vous"). The comparable German distinction between "du"
and "sie" was also noted.The point was that the professor was, by inviting
the student to use his first name, welcoming the student to the status of
colleague. The universal extension of first name usage to all students
would, it was suggested, eliminate this mildly undemocratic but useful rite
of passage.

Would unearned familiarity then lead to contempt? That is an interesting
question.

Sociolinguistically speaking, an interesting complication is that the use of
familiar vs. formal registers is not an unambiguous signal. The usual
pattern is one in which the formal register is universally used for
strangers, who are, as it were, extended the courtesy of being treated as
superiors until proven otherwise. Both group boundary and hierarchy may be
in play. These distinctions may also be calibrated with more than one level,
as they are in Japanese.

John



-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/

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