The following article describes the contemporary use of Polish forms of address in communication with family members. Traditionally, parents and grandparents were addressed using kinship terms such as tata (dad)/ mama (mom)/ dziadek (grandpa) / babcia (grandma) in combination with the 3rd person singular verbs. By the end of the 20th century, the 2nd person form of verbs started to dominate in use, although the 3rd person form has not been abandoned yet. In order to investigate the contemporary usage trend and linguistic awareness of speakers, I conducted research by distributing a questionnaire among 430 Polish native speakers. In the questionnaire, the informants were asked to choose from 2-3 address options the one with which they typically address their parents, grandparents, parents-in-law and children’s partners.
The informants showed a preference for the 2nd person form of verbs, especially as an address form to parents. Some of them declared that they use a “mixed” form as an intermediate form, which is a combination of kinship terms with the 2nd person form of verbs. When addressing grandparents, this “mixed” form is used less frequently and more informants opted to use the 3rd person form of verbs, which is a more traditional way of addressing. There were also comments on use of impersonal forms to parents-in-law, which can be understood as an address form with a certain distance. The most dominant way of addressing children’s partners is the simple use of the 2nd person form.
According to data form the questionnaire, there was no generational or regional difference, which means that the trend to use the 2nd person form to family members is generally observed throughout Polish society.