RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF THE LINGUISTIC CATEGORY OF POLITENESS (BASED ON RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH SPEECH CULTURES)

Rossinskaya Ekaterina Alexandrovna, Neda Kameh Khosh

The aim of this study is to identify the religious foundations of English and Russian communicative behavior, which constitute the linguistic category of politeness. This interdisciplinary research includes an analysis of works on politeness theory, comparative pragmatics of Russian and English, and the foundations of Protestant and Orthodox anthropology and soteriology. The empirical portion of the study consists of survey data from speakers of Russian Orthodox culture. The study utilized questionnaires, comparative linguistic and cultural analysis, and religious anthropology. The novelty of this research lies in its examination of politeness from the perspective of theological categories, namely, kenosis and the legal and organic theories of atonement. This explains the different communicative behaviors of representatives of Orthodox and Protestant cultures. The results demonstrate that politeness is closely linked to the Orthodox value system, which is based on self-effacement, compassion, and sincerity. Protestant culture, by contrast, relies on distancing strategies, rooted in the legal theory of atonement for sinfulness and, consequently, increased autonomy, responsibility, and distancing.

Keywords:category of politeness, pragmatics, kenosis, legal and organic theories, communicative behavior