THE CATEGORY OF POLITENESS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES
Keywords:
politeness, honorifics, pragmatics, English, Uzbek, face-saving strategies, address forms, cross-cultural linguistics, speech acts.Abstract
This article examines the category of politeness as a universal yet culturally specific linguistic phenomenon, with a comparative focus on English and Uzbek languages. Drawing on Brown and Levinson's politeness theory, Leech's politeness maxims, and contemporary cross-cultural pragmatics, the study investigates how politeness norms are encoded lexically, morphologically, and pragmatically in both languages. The analysis reveals significant differences in the use of honorifics, address forms, and face-saving strategies, reflecting distinct socio-cultural values. While English
politeness is largely governed by indirect speech acts and hedging expressions, Uzbek employs a rich system of honorific suffixes, respect pronouns, and culturally embedded deferential formulae. The findings contribute to the understanding of intercultural communication and have practical implications for translation, language teaching, and cross-cultural dialogue.
