Abstract: Although Moment in Peking as the masterpiece of the Chinese-American English literature is written in English, the Chinese society and culture are described in the novel. Most address forms in the novel are expressed by transliteration or literal translations, showing the characteristic of Chinese address forms. There are several types of address forms in the novel like names, kinship terms, address forms for social status, nick names and so on. Based on Verschueren’s dynamic contextual adaptation theory and focusing on the main part of the theory the contextual correlates of adaptability, the paper will analyze the different language choices language users make under different communicative contexts in the novel Moment in Peking according to the change of the physical world, the social world and the mental world. The process of choice-making of address forms embodies the dynamics of language choice-making. As a newly-developing pragmatic theory, dynamic contextual adaptation theory will prove to be powerful in analyzing address forms.

Key words: adaptation theory; contextual correlates of adaptability; address forms

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要：

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 Definition and Classification of Address Forms

2.1.1 Definition of Address Forms

2.1.2 Classification of Address Forms

2.2 Types and Features of Address Forms in Moment in Peking

2.2.1 Types of Address Forms in Moment in Peking 

2.2.2 Features of Address Forms in Moment in Peking 

3. Theoretical Framework-5

3.1 Dynamic Contextual Adaptation Theory

3.2 Contextual Correlates of Adaptability

4. Application of Dynamic Contextual Adaptation Theory to the Address Forms in Moment in Peking-7

4.1 Adaptation to Mental World

4.2 Adaptation to Social World

4.3 Adaptation to Physical World

5. Conclusion-11

Bibliography-12

Acknowledgements-13