Addressee nomination in the presence of a third party in Russian and Arabic linguistic cultures

Abstract

The article focuses on the linguistic analysis of addressee nomination in the presence of a third party as an element of speech etiquette in Russian and Arabic. The study aims to identify the mechanisms by which forms of address shift depending on the configuration of participants in a communicative act, as well as the pragmatic, sociocultural, and etiquette functions of this phenomenon. In Russian, addressee nomination is predominantly observed in family discourse through the situational use of kinship terms (e.g., “dad,” “grandpa”) directed toward a third party. In the Arabic linguistic culture, an analogous function is fulfilled by the kunya – a nominative structure of the type “Abu/Umm + child’s name” – which exhibits high sociolinguistic markedness used both as identificational and status-related functions. A comparative analysis reveals the structural, pragmalinguistic, and functional characteristics of addressee nomination in both languages, highlighting universal and culture-specific features. The research material comprises authentic fragments of oral communication in everyday, family, and religious contexts, as well as data from lexicographic and linguocultural sources. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the pragmatic strategies of speech etiquette that reflect the sociocultural norms of interaction in Russian and Arabic linguistic cultures. They may also prove valuable for further research in contrastive pragmatics and intercultural communication, as well as for the development of language teaching methodologies that take into account culture-specific features of verbal behavior.