Politeness as a regulator of communicative behaviour of Germans in the 18th century

Abstract

This paper analyses politeness as one of the most important categories regulating communicative behaviour in a culture based on the codes of conduct of the 18th century. The latter played an important role in courtesy becoming a cultural value in German history. Through methods of description, component and contextual analysis, the author investigates what was considered polite discourse in the German society and what it depended on. Principal behavioural situations studied include greetings, expressing gratitude, apologies, bidding farewell, as well as table manners, etiquette of dancing and travelling, extending invitations, expressing condolences on a bereavement, congratulations on different occasions. Сompliment, a basic concept of eighteenth- century etiquette, is primarily understood as an etiquette formula applied to a particular etiquette situation. Addressing has two functions: addressing an utterance and reflection of the relationship between the addressee and the addressee, which is strictly regulated by the social status and position of both. One defining feature of etiquette statements in the codes of conduct is the active use of superlative forms. It is concluded that in the 18th century, the category of politeness was primarily an ethical one, which depended on the time, place and persons involved in discourse, first and foremost on their social status and gender. The novelty of the study lies in the material chosen and in studying the development of the politeness category in diachrony.