Politeness in the German Ethnosocium: The Diachronic Aspect

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the main characteristics of politeness as a sociocultural phenomenon based on the material of the German linguistic culture in a historical perspective; a general characteristic of codified and individual politeness is given. The dominant features of German politeness in the diachronic aspect are determined. The ambivalent attitude towards politeness in the German ethnic society was determined not only by the development of society, but also by foreign policy priorities in a specific historical period. Calls for politeness intensified in Germany at historical turning points and were aimed either at reminding the new, emerging social strata of the norms of behavior of the older generation, or with the goal of reporting on the virtues of the new social class. The paper concluded that German politeness throughout its development was marked by the confrontation of two directions - the desire for tactful, indirect politeness and commitment to critical ethics, advocating traditional German honesty and frankness. The juxtaposition of formal, external and internal politeness is consistently carried out in studies devoted to various aspects of politeness on the material of the German linguistic culture. The article presents the results of an associative experiment aimed at determining how the German language speakers understand politeness and allowed to establish the modification of the dominants of politeness and polite behavior in the modern German ethnic society.