Cover not available
Part of
It’s not all about you: New perspectives on address research
Edited by Bettina Kluge and María Irene Moyna
[Topics in Address Research 1] 2019
► pp. 99–122

Imaginary customers and public figures

Visual material as stimuli in studies of address practices

This chapter proposes and evaluates new data collection methods that use visual material to analyze address practices. The methods are illustrated by two experiments. The first experiment used photographs as part of Discourse Completion Tasks for exploring self-reported uses of address forms in service encounters in Helsinki and Tallinn. The second experiment, which simulates an encounter with a celebrity, was conducted using life-size photographs in a Finnish shopping center. While such test data cannot replace authentic discourse as reported use does not necessarily match actual use, the two data sources can complement each other. Using visual material also attracts respondents who might not be accessed by traditional data collection methods such as interviews and questionnaires.
Keywords: address, methods, Discourse Completion Task, visual material, Finnish
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Addressing with T and V forms in Finnish
    • 2.2Research project
  • 3.The Discourse Completion Task and visual material in previous research
  • 4.Experiment 1: Imaginary customers
    • 4.1Aims and implementation
    • 4.2Evaluation
  • 5.Experiment 2: Public figures in a shopping center
    • 5.1Aims and implementation
    • 5.2Evaluation of the experiment
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tar.1.04lap
References (55)
References
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen & Zoltán Dörnyei. 1998. Do language learners recognize pragmatic violations? Pragmatic vs. grammatical awareness in instructed L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly 32 (2). 233–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beebe, Leslie M. & Martha Clark Cummings. 1996. Natural speech act data versus written questionnaire data: How data collection method affects speech act performance. In Susan M. Gass & Joyce Neu (eds.), Speech acts across cultures, 65–86. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Billmyer, Kristine & Manka Varghese. 2000. Investigating instrument-based pragmatic variability: Effects of enhancing Discourse Completion Tests. Applied Linguistics 21 (4). 517–552. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana. 1982. Learning to say what you mean in a second language. A study of the speech act performance of Hebrew second language learners. Applied Linguistics 3 (1). 29–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana, Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper. 1989. Investigating cross-cultural pragmatics: An introductory overview. In Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper (eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies, 1–34. (Advances in Discourse Processes XXXI.) Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Breckler, Steven J. 1984. Empirical validation of affect, behaviour, and cognition as distinct components of attitude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47 (6). 1191–1205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campbell-Kibler, Kathryn & Elizabeth A. McCullough. 2016. Perceived foreign accent as a predicator of face-voice match. In Alexei Prikhodkine & Dennis R. Preston (eds.), Responses to language varieties. Variability, processes and outcomes, 175–190. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael, Catrin Norrby & Jane Warren. 2009. Language and human relations: Address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Douglas, Dan. 2000. Assessing language for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fremer, Maria. 2015. At the cinema: The Swedish ‘du-reform’ in advertising films. In Catrin Norrby & Camilla Wide (eds.), Address practice as social action, 54–74. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Garrett, Peter. 2010. Attitudes to language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Golato, Andrea. 2003. Studying compliment responses: A comparison of DCTs and recordings of naturally occurring talk. Applied Linguistics 24 (1). 90–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hakamäki, Päivi. 2017. Institutionaalisuus apteekin vuorovaikutuksessa [Institutionality in pharmacy interaction]. University of Helsinki. Unpublished master’s thesis.Google Scholar
Havu, Eva, Johanna Isosävi & Hanna Lappalainen. 2014. Les stratégies d’adresse en finnois: Comparaison entre deux types de corpus oraux institutionnels. In Catherine Kerbrat-Orecchioni (ed.), S’adresser à autrui: les formes nominales d’adresse dans une perspective comparative interculturelle, 303–336. Chambéry: Publication Chambéry.Google Scholar
Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa. 2006. Passive – personal or impersonal? A Finnish perspective. In Marja-Liisa Helasvuo & Lyle Campbell (eds.), Grammar from the human perspective. Case, space and person in Finnish, 233–255. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa & Lea Laitinen. 2006. Person in Finnish: paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in interaction. In Marja-Liisa Helasvuo & Lyle Campbell (eds.), Grammar from human perspective: Case, space and person in Finnish, 173–207. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holttinen, Tuuli. 2016. Stratégies de requête dans un bureau de tabac et dans son équivalent finlandais R-kioski . CMLF 2016 : Actes du 5ème Congrès Mondial de Linguistique Française, 4–8 juillet 2016. EDP Sciences ( Édition Diffusion Presse Sciences ). [URL]
Hultgren, Anna Kristina. 2017. Vocatives as rationalized politeness. Theoretical insights from emerging norms in call centre service encounters. Journal of Sociolinguistics 21 (1). 90–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Isosävi, Johanna & Hanna Lappalainen. 2015a. First names in Starbucks: A clash of cultures? In Catrin Norrby & Camilla Wide (eds.), Address practice as social action, 97–118. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
(eds.). 2015b. Saako sinutella vai täytyykö teititellä? Tutkimuksia eurooppalaisten kielten puhuttelukäytännöistä [Addressing people with T or V? Studies on address practices in European languages]. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Jalli, Ninni & Renate Pajusalu. 2015. Samat keinot, eri käyttö. Puhuttelu Virossa [The same means, different uses: Address in Estonian]. In Johanna Isosävi & Hanna Lappalainen (eds.), Saako sinutella vai täytyykö teititellä? Tutkimuksia eurooppalaisten kielten puhuttelukäytännöistä [Addressing people with T or V? Studies on address practices in European languages], 105–134. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Kang, Okim & Donald L. Rubin. 2009. Reverse linguistic stereotyping: Measuring the effect of listener expectations on speech evaluation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 28 (4). 441–456. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele. 2000. Data collection in pragmatics research. In Helen Spencer-Oatey (ed.), Culturally speaking: Managing rapport in talk across cultures, 316–341. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Kneřová, Magdalena. 1995. Ke způsobům oslovování v mluvených projevech. [On forms of address in spoken usage.] Naše řeč 78. [URL] (2 March, 2016).
Laitinen, Lea. 2006. Zero person in Finnish. A grammatical resource for construing human reference. In Marja-Liisa Helasvuo & Lyle Campbell (eds), Grammar from the Human Perspective. Case, space and person in Finnish, 209–231. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lappalainen, Hanna. 2015. Sinä vai te vai sekä että? Puhuttelukäytännöt suomen kielessä [T or V or both? Addressing practices in Finland]. In Johanna Isosävi & Hanna Lappalainen (eds.), Saako sinutella vai täytyykö teititellä? Tutkimuksia eurooppalaisten kielten puhuttelukäytännöistä, 72–104. Helsinki: Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
. 2016. Kuka kaipaa teitittelyä? [Who misses addressing with V forms?]. Gerontologia 1. 46–47.Google Scholar
Lehečková, Helena. 2015. “Rouva dosentti” vai “Hei Helena”? Puhuttelu tšekin kielessä suomen taustaa vasten [“Madam lecturer” or “Hey Helena”? Address in Czech against the background of Finnish]. In Johanna Isosävi & Hanna Lappalainen (eds.), Saako sinutella vai täytyykö teititellä? Tutkimuksia eurooppalaisten kielten puhuttelukäytännöistä, 183–209. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Lepik, Ramona. 2016. “Rouva, teidän passi on vanha. Onko Sulla mitään muuta?” Helsingin ja Tallinnan satamien lähtöselvitysvirkailijoiden puhuttelukäytänteet [Address practices among check-in staff working in the harbors of Helsinki and Tallinn]. Helsinki: University of Helsinki. Unpublished master’s thesis.Google Scholar
Manderbacka, Janica. 2017. Henkilöhahmon puhuttelu kauppakeskuksessa: Puhuttelukäytänteiden tarkastelua ja tutkimusmetodin arviointia [Addressing a cardboard figure at a shopping mall: Analysis of address practices and evaluation of the research method]. Helsinki: University of Helsinki. Unpublished master’s thesis.Google Scholar
Moyna, María Irene & Susana Rivera-Mills (eds.). 2016. Forms of address in the Spanish of the Americas. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noponen, Anna-Leena. 1999. Sinä vai te? [T or V?]. Kielikello 2. 11–16.Google Scholar
Norrby, Catrin & Camilla Wide (eds.). 2015. Address practice as social action. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Norrby, Catrin, Camilla Wide, Jan Lindström & Jenny Nilsson. 2015. Interpersonal relationships in medical consultations: Comparing Sweden Swedish and Finland Swedish address practices. Journal of Pragmatics 84. 121–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nuolijärvi, Pirkko & Liisa Tiittula. 2001. “Rakas Tarja” ja “hyvä ystävä”: Puhuttelu minän ja sosiaalisten suhteiden esittämisen keinoina televisiokeskustelussa [Terms of address as a means of self and social relations in television debates]. Virittäjä 105. 580–601.Google Scholar
Nyblom, Heidi. 2006. The use of address pronouns among Finnish and Finland-Swedish students. Special issue of Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (ARAL) 29 (2). 19.1–19.12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ogiermann, Eva. 2009. Politeness and in-directness across cultures: A comparison of English, German, Polish and Russian requests. Journal of Politeness Research 5 (2). 189–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pajusalu, Renate, Virve Vihman, Birute Klaas & Karl Pajusalu. 2010. Forms of address across languages: Formal and informal second person pronoun usage among Estonia’s linguistic communities. Intercultural Pragmatics 1 (7). 75–101.Google Scholar
Paunonen, Heikki. 2010. Kun Suomi siirtyi sinutteluun. Suomalaisten puhuttelutapojen murroksesta 1970-luvulla [When Finland moved on to T forms. The change in Finnish address practices in the 1970s]. In Hanna Lappalainen, Marja-Leena Sorjonen & Maria Vilkuna (eds.), Kielellä on merkitystä: Näkökulmia kielipolitiikkaan [Language has relevance: Perspectives on language policy], 325–368. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Peterson, Elizabeth. 2010. Perspective and politeness in Finnish requests. Pragmatics 20 (3). 401–423. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peterson, Elizabeth & Johanna Vaattovaara. 2014. Kiitos and pliis: The relationship of native and borrowed politeness markers in Finnish. Journal of Politeness Research 10 (2). 247–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rintell, Ellen M. & Candace J. Mitchell. 1989. Studying requests and apologies: An inquiry into method. In Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper (eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies, 248–272. (Advances in discourse processes XXXI). Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Rouhikoski, Anu. 2015. Laita, laitatko vai laitat? Kolmen direktiivirakenteen variaatio asiakaspalvelutilanteessa [Imperative, interrogative or second person declarative? Variation of three directive constructions in service encounters]. Virittäjä 119. 189–222.Google Scholar
Schauer, Gila A. 2009. Interlanguage pragmatic development: The study abroad context. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Siebold, Kathrin. 2012. Implicit and explicit thanking in Spanish and German. In Leyre Ruiz de Zarobe & Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe (eds.), Speech acts and politeness across languages and cultures, 155–172. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Suomela-Härmä, Elina, Juhani Härmä & Eva Havu (eds.). 2013. Représentations des formes d’adresse dans les langues romanes. Helsinki: Modern Language Society.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 1972. Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British English of Norwich. Language in Society 1 (2). 179–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaattovaara, Johanna. 2004. On the language attitudes and behavior in the light of local identity: Controlling the self-reported dialect use. In Britt-Louise Gunnarsson, Lena Bergström, Gerd Eklund, Staffan Fridell, Lise H. Hansen, Angela Karstadt, Bengt Nordberg, Eva Sundgren & Mats Thelander (eds.), Language variation in Europe. Papers from ICLaVE 2, 418–431. Uppsala: University of Uppsala.Google Scholar
Wolfson, Nessa, Thomas Marmor & Steve Jones. 1989. Problems in the comparison of speech acts across cultures. In Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Juliane House & Gabriele Kasper (eds.), Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies, 174–196. (Advances in discourse processes XXXI). Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Yli-Vakkuri, Valma. 2005. Politeness in Finland: Evasion at all cost. In Leo Hickey & Miranda Stewart (eds.), Politeness in Europe, 189–202. (Multilingual Matters 127.) Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ypyä, Janica. 2014. Tulisko teille muuta? Farmasistien puhuttelukäytänteet asennetutkimuksen valossa [Address practices among pharmacists in light of a language attitude study]. University of Helsinki. Unpublished BA thesis.Google Scholar
Yuan, Yi. 2001. An inquiry into empirical pragmatics data-gathering methods: Written DCTs, oral DCTs, field notes, and natural conversations. Journal of Pragmatics 33 (2). 271–292. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zuckerman, Miron, Kunitate Miyake & Holley S. Hodgins. 1991. Cross-channel effects of vocal and physical attractiveness and their implications for interpersonal perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60 (4). 545–554. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zuskin, Robin D. 1993. Assessing L2 sociolinguistic competence. In search of support from pragmatic theories. Pragmatics and Language Learning 4. 166–182.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Nicole Baumgarten & Roel Vismans
2023. It's different with you [Topics in Address Research, 5], DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Address Variation in Sociocultural Context [Topics in Address Research, 2], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.