Keywords

religious community naming norms, situational factors in address selection, Latter-day Saint address practices, young married adult interactions

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze forms of address between Latter-day Saint (Mormon) young adults. In American English, title + last name (TLN) is typically used for older, superior, or unfamiliar addressees while first name (FN) is directed towards younger, subordinate, or familiar addressees (Brown & Gilman 1960). In the Mormon context, the TLN form is Brother or Sister followed by a surname (Fogg 1990). While many other studies analyze address forms between individuals with varying power or age differences (Brown & Ford 1961; Wood & Ryan 1991; Murray 2002; Dickey 1997), this study focuses those who are of similar age and power— particularly, young married individuals—and what factors determine the form of address used.

A survey was administered to most of the young, married members of a Latter-day Saint congregation in northeastern Georgia. This congregation was selected due to its particularly high percentage of younger couples. Participants were asked to indicate, for each of four different situations, what form of address they would use for each other participant.

Original Publication Citation

Joseph A. Stanley. “Brother Bell’s Audience Design: Forms of Address among Latter-day Saint Young Adults”. 39th Annual Penn Linguistics Conference (PLC39). Philadelphia, PA. March 19–21, 2015.