Lexical and grammatical features of corporate Сhristmas and New Year’s greetings in German and Russian cultures

Abstract

The article focuses on the text type greeting in German and Russian languages. It aims at identifying lexical and grammatical means of corporate greeting in German language culture. The study is novel in that it discusses contemporary corporate greetings in German and in Russian as a part of the language politeness. The methods used in the study include continuous sampling method, lexical and semantical analysis, and comparison. The greetings under discussion consist of three obligatory (address, wishes and signature) and two extra parts (introduction and gratitude). The introduction aims at establishing of festive mood and can have a quote in German greetings. In Russian congratulations, the introduction is rare, in certain cases it is replaced with congratulation on a holiday. The reason why in German texts there is no congratulation is the fact that the congratulation is written on a card which has pre-printed greeting. There are semantical differences between Russian and German wishes. The Russians tend to express wishes for the whole upcoming year. They are about job and private life of an addressee. The Germans focus their wishes on Christmas, and an addressee is supposed to spend it in a quiet company of relatives and friends. The wishes on New Year’s Day are similar to Russian ones. The difference in wishes partly would raise from the difference in calendars: While the Germans celebrate Christmas right after working days, the Russians have it at the end of a series of days-off at the beginning of January.