Bodnaruk E.V. Representation of Politeness in Modern English Literary Discourse
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2025.6.4
Elena V. Bodnaruk
Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor, Department of German and French Philology, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4405-4513
Abstract. The paper is devoted to a comprehensive study of the linguistic category of politeness. It provides an empirical analysis of means expressing politeness, extracted by continuous sampling from the direct speech of characters in the novel The Only Story written by the English writer Julian Barnes. Systematization of multi-level means involved in producing polite statements is carried out. Their belonging to the conventional and individual type of politeness is determined. The most frequently used linguistic units are identified. The repertoire of linguistic means involved in the expression of politeness includes addresses and etiquette formulas, some interrogative and negative sentences, constructions with modal verbs and propositional verbs (such as think, suppose, mean, etc.), morphological forms of the subjunctive mood (e.g. would + infinitive), imperative forms (including the imperative of the verb let), a number of lexical units (for example, adverbs of measure and degree, adverbs of modality, adverbs of frequency, some pronouns, particles, conjunctions, interjections). It was found that in the analysed novel the individual type of politeness prevails. The belonging of linguistic units to this type can be determined only in the specific context of their usage. Some comments are also given about the relationship between negative and positive politeness in the novel. In particular, the predominance of linguistic means of expressing negative politeness was found.
Key words: category of politeness, conventional politeness, individual politeness, positive politeness, negative politeness, means of expressing politeness, English language, literary discourse.
Citation. Bodnaruk E.V. Representation of Politeness in Modern English Literary Discourse. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics], 2025, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 46-57. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2025.6.4
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