POLITENESS AS A SOCIO-CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON
Abstract
Politeness is regarded as a universal social norm, interpreted differently across various cultural contexts. It plays a vital role in facilitating effective communication among members of society. Since each culture employs distinct politeness strategies, examining the features of linguistic politeness has become increasingly important in today’s rapidly changing world. This study aims to analyze how society and culture influence the formation of linguistic politeness in the context of digital communication. As each language reflects its unique cultural and social background — including English and Uzbek — this topic stands out as one of the most intriguing in contemporary linguistics. The primary research objective is to explore these relationships using a range of traditional and modern analytical methods, to interpret the interplay between society and social settings, and to trace the evolution of linguistic politeness, especially from a sociolinguistic perspective. The research employs a sociolinguistic approach to the analysis of politeness strategies. This methodology has opened new avenues for studying politeness within fragmented, context-specific discourses in modern linguistics. The findings show that politeness develops differently among individuals, depending on sociolinguistic factors such as social status, power dynamics, age, gender, and cultural background. In conclusion, the study highlights the significance of culture, age, gender, social status, and power in the discourse of politeness. These factors were analyzed through various traditional and modern approaches based on materials from social media communication in unrelated languages such as English and Uzbek.