POLITENESS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK: HOW PEOPLE SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU
Keywords:
politeness, pragmatics, cross-cultural communication, please, thank you, speech acts, classroom interactions.Abstract
Politeness is a fundamental aspect of interpersonal communication and reflects cultural values and linguistic norms. This study explores how the speech acts of please and thank you are expressed in English and Uzbek, focusing on similarities, differences, and cultural underpinnings. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, as well as cross-cultural pragmatics, we examine authentic conversational data and classroom interactions. Results indicate that while both languages employ explicit lexical markers of politeness, their frequency, pragmatic force, and cultural interpretation vary. English speakers often use please and thank you formulaically, as markers of social etiquette, whereas Uzbek speakers rely more on contextual cues, indirectness, and culturally specific phrases (iltimos, rahmat, katta rahmat, rahmat sizga). These findings highlight the importance of understanding cultural pragmatics in language teaching and intercultural communication.
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