GIEDRĖ ČEPAITIENĖ
Šiauliai University
ON THE TERM
LINGUISTIC POLITENESS
In works on pragmatic linguistics, the term linguistic politeness has recently begun to be used (alongside it, linguistic behavior). Inga Hilbig (2009, 2010) was perhaps the first to begin using this term; Birutė Ryvitytė (2011) later adopted it. In reviewing the latter’s work, I. Hilbig positively evaluates the choice of this particular term (Hilbig 2011). In proposing the term linguistic politeness, these authors draw on the English linguistics politeness. The aim of this publication is to clarify the semantics of this term and its conformity with the system of linguistic terminology.
A word used as a term must align its lexical and derivational meanings; only then is it appropriate and does not violate the language system (see Keinys 2005: 205–208). In this case, the term linguistic politeness violates this alignment. The agreeing modifier linguistic, with the suffix -inis, semantically corresponds to what is indicated by the genitive of its base word, that is, the word linguistics. However, when the authors speak of linguistic politeness, they have in mind not tendencies toward politeness reflected in linguists’ work (Vladas Žulys wrote about scientific ethos in 1997), but entirely different things. Essentially, they are concerned with tendencies in the individual use of the resources of language in various speech acts. As noted, the authors propose the term linguistic politeness by analogy with the English description of the concept. But the convenience of a term (in this case, the proposed term linguistic politeness can be regarded as a typical loan translation, or calque) cannot become the main criterion for establishing it. This is especially so since a semantically incorrect term undermines an already weakening sense of language. Moreover, it is entirely unclear why the sufficiently broad term speech etiquette is being abandoned—a term that essentially encompasses all speech acts and has a long tradition of use. After all, it is precisely this term that indicates the relationship with both systems so important to the study of speech acts: language, with its resources, and ethics—the fundamental norms of conduct of a nation or another community.
G. ČEPAITIENĖ. Dėl termino lingvistinis mandagumas
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