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The system of Russian forms of addressing is used in Russian languages to indicate relative social status and the degree of respect between speakers. Typical language for this includes using certain parts of a person's full name, name suffixes, and honorific plural, as well as various titles and ranks.
The most important, grammaticalized distinction is between plain (T) and honorific (V) form, the latter being expressed through honorific second person plural, reflected both in personal pronouns and verb declension. Historically, it used to be accompanied by slovoyers (enclitic -s added to one or several words of a phrase) and analytic verb form “изволить + infinitive”, both of which gradually fell out of use.
The choice between T and V forms is influenced by a number of factors, such as relative age and position, relationship between the speaker and the addressee, as well the general formality of the situation. Generally, T-form is reserved to informal communication between friends and family members. Depending on the corporate culture, it may also be used between colleagues of the same age. Sometimes T-form is used unilaterally to address one's inferiors, e.g. by a boss addressing employees or by a teacher addressing students, or by and elder addressing junior.
V-form is used in all formal circumstances, to address elders and superiors, or just to express respect and politeness (where a plain form is expected, however, using an honorific one unironically can sound uptight and distant). It is characterized by using the second person plural pronoun (often capitalized in writing to distinguish from numerical plural) and second person plural verb forms in all moods. Hortative mood has special polite form ending with –те (-te): пойдёмте (poydemte) instead of пойдём (poydem).
Modern East Slavic names are tripartite, consisting of family name, given name, and patronymic. Each of these components can be used alone or in different combinations; additionally, most given names have suppletively derived short form, which can be further suffixed to produce a number of diminutives conveying different emotional meaning and applicable in different contexts.
Much like other languages, in East Slavic one can address a person by words other than name or nickname, which can be divided into polite (e.g. господин (gospodin), “sir”), vernacular (e.g. братан (bratan), “bro”) and codified (such as military ranks and styles of office). Some of them may serve as titles, prefixing a person's name.
Styles in Russian Empire
From the time of Peter the Great, forms of address in the Russian Empire became well-codified, determined by a person's title of honor, as well as military or civil rank (see Table of Ranks) and ecclesiastical order. Religious clerical status was considered most important, followed by title, and then by civil/military rank, e.g. a commoner with the rank of Privy Councilor would be styled His Excellency, a prince of the same rank would be His Highness, while the same prince serving as an archbishop would be referred as His High Eminence. All of these styles are now obsolete and are only used in historical context.
Modern Styles of Office
Unlike English and many other languages, addressing a person by their office is highly uncommon outside of a protocol context (e.g. even during an official meeting it is very uncommon for to personally address a chairman as “Mr. Chairman”). On the other hand, military or paramilitary rank is commonly used, either as a title before one's name, or by itself, usually preceded by the title товарищ (comrade), e.g. лейтенант Петров (lieutenant Petrov), or товарищ лейтенант (lieutenant, sir; literally “comrade lieutenant”).
Common titles and appellations
During the Soviet era, the word товарищ (comrade) served as a universal form of address. Later it fell out of use due to its sexlessness and political connotations, while pre-Soviet styles seemed either archaic or too pompous (with the possible exception of the Ukrainian language, where the old honorific пан (pan) seems to be successfully revived). Eventually, such words as девушка (lady), молодой человек (young man), and even мужчина (man) and женщина (woman) have been adopted as default forms of addressing strangers, which may seem awkward or even rude to a foreigner.
Below is the list of common East Slavic titles given in Russian Cyrillic spelling and English transcription. Note that some of them can be only used alone, while others can become prefixes before names or other appellations.
| Title | Trasliteration | Prefix | Translation | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| милостивый государь милостивая государыня | Milostivy Gosudar (m) Milostivaya Gosudarynya (f) | no | Kind Sir/Madam | Used mostly in letters; fell out of usage |
| сударь сударыня | Sudar (m) Sudarynya (f) | no | Sir, madam | Once common, now considered archaic |
| товарищ | Tovarishch (unisex) | yes | comrade | Ubiquitous in Soviet times; now limited to Army and Communist Party |
| господин госпожа | gospodin (m) gospozha (f) | yes | Mister, Miss | most commonly used as prefix before surname |
| девушка молодой человек | dyevushka (f) molodoy chelovyek (m) | no | young lady young man | commonly used towards strangers |
| мужчина женщина | muzhchina (m) zhenschina (f) | no | man woman | used towards strangers |
| гражданин гражданка | grazhdanin (m) grazhdanka (f) | yes | citizen | used by state officials |
| отец, батюшка матушка | otets, batyushka (m) matushka (f) | yes | father mother | used to address clergy |
| брат сестра | brat (m) sestra (f) | yes | brother sister | used between monks and nuns. |
| Title | Trasliteration | Translation | Used towards |
|---|---|---|---|
| брат сестра | brat (m) sestra (f) | brother sister | Informal greeting towards one's sibling or close acquaintance; also used between monks and nuns. |
| братан, браток, братишка, братуха, братюня, брателло сеструха | bratan, bratok, bratishka, bratukha, bratyunya, bratello (m) sestrukha (f) | brother sister | Informal greeting towards one's sibling; also used to address a close friend. |
| мужик | muzhik (m) | man, boor | anybody too old to be пацан, but not old enough to be отец |
| пацан | patsan (m) | lad, boy | teenagers; also used between young men. |
| мальчик | malchik (m) | boy | anybody too young to be пацан |
| чувак чувиха | chuvak (m) chuvikha (f) | dude | mostly limited to certain subcultures, or to translate English word "dude" |
| отец матушка | otets (m) matushka (f) | father mother | a person old enough to be speaker's parent; also used to address priests, monks or nuns. |
| батя, батяня, папаша мать, мамаша | batya, batyanya, papasha (m) mat’, mamasha (f) | father mother | a person old enough to be speaker's parent. |
| дед, дедушка бабушка, бабка | dyed, dyedushka (m) babushka, babka (f) | grandfather grandmother | senior person |
| начальник, командир | nachalnik (m), komandir (m) | boss | drivers of any kind, police officers |
| дядя, дяденька, дядюшка тётя, тётенька, тётушка | dyadya, dyadenka, dyadyushka (m) tyotya, tyotenka, tyotushka (f) | uncle aunt | common way for children to address adults; can be used as prefix before a given name, e.g. тётя Наташа (auntie Natasha) |
| дорогой дорогая | dorogoy (m) dorogaya (f) | dear | spouses (most common); children or close relatives (affectionate); customers (often used by merchants from Caucasus) |
| приятель, дружок, друг | priyatel, druzhok, drug (m) | friend | manual workers, especially migrants |
| народ братва | narod bratva | people brothers | used as collective form of address |
By using different parts of a person's name in different forms, combined with T- or V-addressing, with or without titles and honorifics, one can produce at least 20 forms of address, all of which are fairly common, but used in different circumstances, as explained below:
Full name + Patronymic + Surname
Highly formal, used in documents or official setting. Surname-first order is considered bureaucratic, and name-first order more organic
Full name + Patronymic
General polite form of addressing, comparable to English Mr./Ms. + Surname
Title + Surname
Feature of bureaucratic speech used in certain official contexts
NB: the above three forms sound unnatural with T-form of address, but may be used ironically or sarcastically
Appellation only
T-form: Used to informally address strangers in certain situations
V-form: Used to address strangers politely
Title + Given name
Common feature of baby-talk with тётя (tyotya) and дядя (dyadya) titles and either full or short form of given name, T and V forms both acceptable; also used towards and between clergy with such titles as отец (otets, "father"),брат (brat, "brother"). Marginal examples of other usage exist, e.g. a renowned revolutionary Theodor Sergeyev used a nickname “Comrade Artyom” (Artyom being a male given name).
Military rank
Regulations of most military and paramilitary organizations require their members to address each other in V-from; subordinates shall address commanders as товарищ (tovarisch, "comrade) + military rank, while higher-ups address subordinates by military rank and surname.
Military men sometimes use same forms of address, albeit in singular, in friendly conversation
Surname only
May be used as a rather impolite way to address one's subordinates, pupils, students, etc. Especially rude when used with T-form. Often used by military men while a higher-up addresses a subordinate.
Full given name only
May be used in V-form between colleagues of the same age. This form became used more often recently to mimic the corporate culture of Western companies, but is not very natural, as one would normally use either имя-отчество (imya-otchestvo)— name & patronimic — or short name
Short name only
T-form: Default way of informally addressing acquaintances, colleagues, friends etc. Generally considered impolite when used towards people older than oneself (except close family members, though in Ukraine it is common to address one's parents with V-form)
V-form: Polite way to address one's juniors and subordinates, or distantly known acquaintances, in moderately formal context
Affectionate diminutive
T-form: Demonstrates care and affection, though may be considered baby-talk. Commonly used towards children, between lovers and intimate friends, though generally not between male friends
V-form: May be used same way as short name + plural, especially to address one's juniors or people of the opposite sex. In Russian classics, it is commonly depicted to be used by aristocrats, who remained polite even with intimate friends.
NB: when a man addresses a young woman by this form, especially if the speaker is young too, it may be associated with a sexual desire and the stereotype of an "attractive female employee", who is "expected" to have sex with her boss or male customer.
Vernacular diminutive
Only used with T-form, expressing familiar, highly informal attitude. May be used by elders within a family or close friends, rude otherwise
Slang diminutive Expresses informal, brotherly attitude. May be used between male friends
Patronymic only
Same as slang diminutive, but used mostly within older generations and not limited to males. In this particular case, some patronymics assume vernacular form with the suffixes –ych/vna- rather than –ovich/ovna-, e.g. Ivanovich becomes Ivanych. Sometimes an even more informal patronymic may be derived by using person's father's short name as a base, e.g. Kolyanych instead of Nikolaich(Kolya being short form of Nikolay)
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather, or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
The T–V distinction is the contextual use of different pronouns that exists in some languages and serves to convey formality or familiarity. Its name comes from the Latin pronouns tu and vos. The distinction takes a number of forms and indicates varying levels of politeness, familiarity, courtesy, age or even insult toward the addressee. The field that studies and describes this phenomenon is sociolinguistics.
The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request.
Chinese pronouns differ somewhat from pronouns in English and other Indo-European languages. For instance, there is no differentiation in the spoken language between "he", "she" and "it", and pronouns are not inflected to indicate whether they are the subject or object of a sentence. Mandarin Chinese further lacks a distinction between the possessive adjective ("my") and possessive pronoun ("mine"); both are formed by appending the particle 的 de. Pronouns in Chinese are often substituted by honorific alternatives.
The Japanese language has a system of honorific speech, referred to as keigo, parts of speech that show respect. Their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank. Japanese honorific titles, often simply called honorifics, consist of suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation.
Eastern Slavic naming customs are the traditional way of identifying a person's family name, given name, and patronymic name in East Slavic cultures in Russia and some countries formerly part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers. Honorifics can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the appropriate occasion and presentation in accordance with style and customs.
In the English language, an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person's name, e.g.: Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mx, Sir, Dame, Dr, Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person's name, as in Mr President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.
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In linguistics, an honorific is a grammatical or morphosyntactic form that encodes the relative social status of the participants of the conversation. Distinct from honorific titles, linguistic honorifics convey formality FORM, social distance, politeness POL, humility HBL, deference, or respect through the choice of an alternate form such as an affix, clitic, grammatical case, change in person or number, or an entirely different lexical item. A key feature of an honorific system is that one can convey the same message in both honorific and familiar forms—i.e., it is possible to say something like "The soup is hot" in a way that confers honor or deference on one of the participants of the conversation.
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Honorifics are words that connote esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. In the German language, honorifics distinguish people by age, sex, profession, academic achievement, and rank. In the past, a distinction was also made between married and unmarried women.
The T–V distinction is a contrast, within one language, between various forms of addressing one's conversation partner or partners. This may be specialized for varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, age or insult toward the addressee. The distinction occurs in a number of the world's languages.