Social and Cultural Factors in Expressing Politeness in English and Romanian
Social and Cultural Factors in Expressing Politeness in English and Romanian

Summary/Abstract: Even if the Romanian language, on the one hand, and the English language, on the other hand, have different historical backgrounds, with no genetic relatedness, there are quite a number of similarities in expressing politeness in both languages. Our present survey is focused on the investigation of politeness from the socio-cultural point of view, emphasizing the similarities and differences that exist between the two languages. We have discussed the main linguistic theoretical aspects regarding this phenomenon, from different points of view: the conversational view, the face-saving view and politeness viewed as a conversational contract. Afterwards, we have approached in detail the problem of linguistic politeness, highlighting the social and cultural factors that have the strongest impact on choosing a certain way of addressing. We have come to the conclusion that the similarities and differences that exist among the Romanian and English languages as regards politeness expression are triggered by various value systems and by different cultural and social systems.

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