Are the Rules of Address Universal?

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Abstract
Our basic questions were: Does the alleged universality of Brown's invariant norm of address (1965) extend to Korean usage, and is the structure of address exchange cross-culturally similar for Korean, Greek, and Chinese speakers? To answer the first question, 73 Korean speakers from both Korea and Canada reported actual address usage received from and sent to 34 categories of interactants. Their answers were coded in terms of three quantitative indices that assess the degrees of reciprocity, solidarity, and inequality in dyadic address exchanges. The results supported Brown's description of address exchange such that we may add Korean to the languages that support the claim for the universality of the rules of address. There were no significant differences in address usage between Korean speakers living in Korea and those living in Canada. To answer the second question, we compared Korean and previously reported Greek and Chinese usage to reveal substantial cross-cultural consistency. Some exceptions are noted, and the results are discussed in terms of some principles drawn from the alternative social-psychological strategy of ethogeny.

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