Address Terms Used for Birthday Wishes: A Case of Students and Lecturers of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe

Abstract

This research investigated the address terms used by WhatsApp group members in expressing birthday wishes among its members. The WhatsApp groups constitute the undergraduates’ WhatsApp platform and the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) WhatsApp platform, all in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State. Address terms is a phenomenon that exists in our day-to- day communication and are bound to vary as a result of many social factors. Therefore, this paper focuses on the address terms used by the members of these groups when expressing birthday wishes to their fellow members, as well as the factor(s) that may be the face behind the mask of choice of address terms. The address terms are classified under the following: first name (FN), last name (LN), title (T), special nickname (SN), pet name (PN) and without address term (WAT). This study revealed that the combination of two or more address terms neutralises the original concept of one address term or the other. The without address term depicts more of solidarity than degree of intimacy and familiarity. Furthermore, the use of dual language in the address terms portrays a high degree of intimacy and the use of codes and abbreviations depict the highest degree of intimacy between the addresser and the celebrant or addressee. Finally, this simply means that the context in which an address term is used and the combinations of other address terms can neutralise the concept of a particular address term. Also, some address terms are status specific and the proposition of Wardhaugh (2010) that title (T) is the least intimate address term does not hold water in this paper, instead, it is without address term (WAT).
 Keywords: Address Terms, Birthday Wishes, Students, Lecturers, Whatsapp Group.