Greeting versus Address

Address differs from greeting in two ways:

a. Address is used almost solely for power and
solidarity.
Hello, Mary.
Mrs. Smith.
Doctor Green
Professor White

Greetings may vary between two people depending

on their mood.
“Hi!”, “What’s happening?”, “How is it going?”
Good morning.
What’s up?
How do you do?

b. Address can be repeated constantly throughout a

conversation to reinforce the relative intimacy and
power between people. We can say Doctor Pugh
again and again.
Greeting, on the other hand, only sets the stage. We
say Good morning, for example, only at the
beginning of our conversation.

Rules of addressing:
 Titles: Mr., Mrs., Dr., Professor plus last
name.
 Nicknaming: sir, ma’am, man, boy, your
honor, aunt, uncle.
  First name without title: Nancy, Jack, John,
Mary

Discourse Routines
Language makes us free as individuals but chains us
socially.
We control others and they control us by shared
discourse routines.
By saying certain things, the other people in a
dialogue force us to respond in certain ways.
When people say “Thank you” to us, we may say
“You’re welcome” to them.
In order to understand these routines, one must
understand the society in which they occur.
Simply knowing the language is not sufficient, for the
true meaning often lies not in the actual words uttered
but in a complex of social knowledge.
For example, we have to know when we flatter,
apologize, or thank someone.

Exercise:

1. Mention as many as possible greetings in English

and greetings in Indonesian.
2. Give more examples of addresses in English and
Indonesian.
3. What will happen if we do not respond to what
people say to us?
Write down your answers and save them to be
collected at the right time.