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Abstract

The paper focuses on the notion of politeness formulae as an analytical category in linguistic politeness research. It argues that the current theories of linguistic politeness have neglected politeness formulae, either ignoring the relationship between their semantic, formal and pragmatic make-up or disputing their existence altogether, claiming that the emergence of polite meanings is restricted to singular and concrete contexts. It will be shown, however, that a non-contextual approach to linguistic politeness makes it possible to describe politeness formulae systematically on a pragmatic, semantic, and even formal level. The approach is based on the common ground of all politeness phenomena, namely their function of establishing, maintaining or negotiating relations of social distance.