This contribution explores preferred nominal address and introduction routines in first encounters in the context of international academic conferences where English is used as the conference language or Lingua Franca. It is based on a large-scale survey of reported use of first and last names as well as academic titles in three scenarios: introduction of self, of others and expected introduction of self by others.

We draw on questionnaire responses and comments by respondents whose L1 is (a variety of) German and who originate in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. This paper builds on a previous one which explored variation between the introduction routines of the three groups in their L1 German and found that while introduction by first name and last name tends to be the unmarked choice, some national variation is present, particularly in the use of academic titles. Examining the ELF address behaviour of the same respondents gives us the opportunity to investigate to what extent and in which contexts such routines are transferred from L1 to ELF and whether the variation between speakers of different national varieties of L1 German is equally present in ELF. Finally, we also briefly compare the results with those for L1 speakers of American, Australian and British English (see Norrby et al., in press).

References

• Norrby, Catrin, Doris Schüpbach, John Hajek & Heinz L. Kretzenbacher (in press): Introductions at international academic conferences: Address and naming in three national varieties of English. In: Kluge, Bettina, María Irene Moyna & Horst Simon (eds.): It’s not all about you: current perspectives on address research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.