Definition
An authorized recipient is an addressee, having a unique status or belonging to a socially defined group, with whom one or more distinctive linguistic forms is used.
Discussion
The use of distinctive linguistic forms for an authorized recipient expresses absolute social deixis.
Examples
(English, Tunica)
An authorized recipient would be the appropriate person to receive a term of address such as Your Honor or Mr. President.
Here is an example in Tunica of an authorized recipient:
- In Tunica, there are two different words for they which are dependent upon the sex of the addressee.
(Haas 1964)