The Gender Bias in the Choice of Address terms in Some Iranian Contemporary Stories

This article aims to explore the role of the gender bias in the choice of address terms in some Iranian contemporary stories. Some address terms due to their gender distinctive functions refer either to men or women; however, as it has been observed the variability in the choice of some address forms or references are more or less due to the social status and values of the interactants in the target stories. For example, male characters would address their counter parts with their first names and the pronoun /tou/, but the female characters would address their counter part more politely with their last names with the title or the pronoun /shoma/. This article thus tends to consider the socio-pragmatic functions of address terms such as the first name, the last name, the address pronouns, the special titles, and the kinship terms. The findings indicate that the major factor affecting the choice of the address terms is based on the gender bias of the interactants.