THE CONCEPT OF POLITENESS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN SPEECH ACTS OF VICTORIAN DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article outlines the concept POLITENESS of Victorian discourse with the selection and grounding of communication strategies in the speech acts of Victorians, highlights and describes the culturological aspects of the concept POLITENESS from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics followed by analysis of the concept POLITENESS compared to politeness. The specificity of the mental organization of Victorian discourse can be traced to the example of the concept POLITENESS, which fixes the norms of ethical behavior developed and recognized by Victorian society. As a cognitive scenario, it reflects a typical sequence of events in a given situation, in which the signs of “good manners”, “culture” and “sophistication’ characterize the way in which its participants interact. Along with the cognitive scenario of correct behavior, the kaleidoscopic concept of politeness also contains the idea of a reference agent who meets all accepted moral and ethical norms and embodies social virtues. In a discursive context, its constitutive features of “good manners”, “culture” and “sophistication” are concentrated in the image of the gentleman / lady as their exemplary, reference bearer, revealing its iconic aspect. As a non-objective concept POLITENESS does not have a clear figurative component. Instead, the Victorian consciousness captures the following associations: decent behavior under any circumstances, the ability to hide their feelings, mannerisms, adherence to etiquette. The valorative component of the concept reflects not only the categorical(positive or negative) qualification of any form of human social activity, but also the extrapolation of this assessment toits moral qualities, defines her as a lady or a gentleman. The high value of the concept of politeness as a way of socialexistence has become, paradoxically, the reason for a certain “devaluation” of politeness. The desire of man to be politebegan to gradually replace the true feelings, turned into a purist mask. Thus, the texts of the Victorian discourse embodythe condemnation of excessive, insincere politeness and approve of the naturalness of behavior in the social environment.