Deferential address terms in Jamaica and Trinidad

This article examines how Jamaicans and Trinidadians show deference to their addressees through the use of nominal address, focusing on titles on their own (such as Sir or Ma'am ), titles in combination with the addressee's last name (such as Mr Smith ) or first name (such as Miss Mary ) and kinship terms for non‐kin (such as Uncle or Auntie ). Based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork data (written questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews), the study shows that deferential address terms are used strategically by Jamaicans and Trinidadians to express varying degrees of deference, depending on (i) social factors (the speaker's/addressee's sex, age, social class and ethnicity), (ii) the relationship between the speaker and the addressee and (iii) the formality of the speech situation. Ultimately, the findings suggest that the overt linguistic marking of hierarchical structures through nominal address (still) plays a crucial role in the anglophone Caribbean.