CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK: SPEECH ACTS AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES

Аннотация

This thesis investigates speech acts and politeness models in English and Uzbek, determining requests, apologies, and compliments. According to Austin (1962) and Searle’s (1969) speech act theory, as well as Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness strategies, it analyzes how cultural norms, social hierarchy, and interpersonal connections can be reflected by linguistic choices. Based onvarious research, it is displayed that, English expresses explicit politeness markers integrated with indirectness, while Uzbek highlights contextual cues, honorifics, and culturally grounded indirectness to convey respect. Keywords: politeness, pragmatics, speech acts, English, Uzbek, intercultural communication. Speech acts play an important role in interpersonal relationships, which have different performs across cultures (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969). In English language, modal verbs and politeness markers are used to request something politely (e.g., Could you please give me?) to balance directness and friendliness (Blum-Kulka, 1987). Based on Uzbek language, however, it tends to honorific forms and culturally expected indirectness (e.g., Bera olasizmi? Bora olasizmi? ) to remain social harmony (Turaev, 2018). In English, politeness level contains very polite, polite, neutral / informal, impolite / rude expressed with different modal forms, like Could, Would, May I, Please, Can, Would you like …etc. For example: Could you help me with this task, please? (Polite request; sounds soft and indirect) Would you mind closing the window? (Polite inquiry/request) May I ask you a question? (Very formal and respectful) Could you pass the salt, please? (Politeness marker added to the request) Can you help me with this box? (Common request, polite but more direct) Would you like some coffee? (Offering politely) In English language, apologies often start with an explicit acknowledgment of fault (I’m sorry I am late) followed by an explanation (Holmes, 1990). In Uzbek, expressions minimizing the offense are used (Kechirasiz, noqulay bo‘ldimi?), to show a collectivist tendency to preserve the other person’s face (Turaev, 2018). 95 CURRENT APPROACHES AND NEW RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCES International scientific-online conference Language Apology Structure Example Sentence 1. Acknowledgment of fault I’m sorry I’m late. There English 2. Explanation (optional) was a lot of traffic. 1. Apology 2. Taking full I deeply apologize. It was blame entirely my mistake. Sorry I missed your call. I 1. Apology + Reason was in a meeting. 1. Softened apology 2. Kechirasiz, noqulay Uzbek Minimizing the offense bo‘ldimi? 1. Indirect apology 2. Xafa bo‘lmang, bilmay Expression of inconvenience qoldim. 1. Respectful tone 2. Uzr, ishlaringizga halal Implicit regret berdim shekilli. English compliments usually utilize appearance or achievements (You look great today!) and expect a simple “Thank you” response (Herbert, 1989). Compliments in Uzbek language may be met with modest deflection, which aligns with humility norms in Central Asian cultures (Rustamova, 2020). Language Compliment Style Example Sentence Compliment based on English You look great today! appearance or achievements Achievement-based Great job on the presentation! compliment Modest deflection or Rahmat, lekin siz ham chiroyli Uzbek reciprocity ko‘rinyapsiz. Voy, unday emas, oddiygina Minimizing the compliment kiyim-da.