Solidarity and power

The most obvious ways we show solidarity and power are how we refer to each other.

T/V PRONOUNS

Let’s talk about using the T/V pronouns first. The T/V pronouns are the tu and vous forms in French, that is the familiar tu and the polite and plural form vous. Now, most of the literature on T/V pronouns centers around the French, but obviously, we know Russian and Ukrainian both have these pronouns as well.

In fact, in most cases the French, Russian, Ukrainian, Latin, German, Italian, Swedish, and Greek, T/V pronouns all work in the same way. This is for a very interesting reason—their history of use is the same. It is an interesting history that traces back to the 4^th century A.D. and the splitting of the Roman Empire. If you are interested I have a short article about it that you can read.

English also had a distinction between a T and V pronoun at one time. In English we used “thou” for the familiar form and “ye” or “you” as the polite term, obviously we now only use “you” which overtime took over the usage of thou as well. The history of this would be an interesting research paper.

But to continue, in general, people use the T form to mark solidarity and the V form to mark power relationships. This should come as no surprise. You use it all the time. The interesting part of all this is how and when people decide to use one form over the other.

ASK STUDENTS:

For example:

· When you meet someone for the first time which form do you use?

· How do you know when to switch to the T form?

· Which form do you use with a colleague at work, maybe a fellow teacher when you first meet them?

• What about people who are older than you?

A similar situation exists for what you call someone using his or her name.

NAMES

This way of showing solidarity and power is an especially obvious one in English and Russian.

ASK THE CLASS: What form of a persons name do you use when you first meet them?

How do you introduce someone, in Russian and in English?

Polite names:

Let’s start at the beginning.

If you do not know someone’s name, you use the polite form of address “Sir” or “Miss” for an older woman “Mam.” Or, if you know what they do for a living, Doctor, Professor, Colonel, Mr. President, etc.

For example:

“Excuse me Sir, I think you dropped your keys.”

In an English introduction, in formal settings, for example for business purposes, we usually use the most polite form of a name with a title, and often include the first name:

So you have:

“Mr. Robert Jones, meet Ms. Helen Boswell.”

From this point on the two people will refer to each other using only their last names, Mr. Jones and Ms. Boswell in all formal communications. This may change, however, as the two people get to know each other, and one of them gives the other person a cue that it is okay if they wish, to become more informal—this is a switch to a more solidarity based relationship. A cue might be:

“Oh, call me Robert.” (or “Oh, call me Helen.”)

Or, it may be subtler. Perhaps one of them writes the other a letter and signs it Robert—this often happens in e-mail correspondence. The other person may then address them by their first name in the next letter.

The most obvious example of a power relationship using polite forms is the relationship between teacher and student.

Students use the polite form of their teacher’s names to acknowledge a certain giving up of power to the teacher. They allow the teacher to be in charge and thus, they allow the teacher to have a certain amount of power over them. The teacher does after all have the power to grade your work! The teacher uses first names in the same way, to show a difference in the level of knowledge and power between student and teacher—it is an interesting relationship. I’m sure there is enough here for a sociolinguistics paper.

CHINA

Moreover, a whole society undergoing social change is also likely to show that change in the way people address each other. One such society is modern China. The Communist Party of China has promoted the use of “comrade” to replace all other titles of power, such as the titles of address for “boss”, i.e. the equivalents of “director”, “manager”, “chief”, and honorific titles such as the equivalent of “mister.” The party wants to put everyone on an equal footing through encouraging the use of an address form that implies no social or economic differences and unites all politically. Comrade is a term intended to invoke solidarity.