The Main Features of the Concept of POLITENESS in the German Linguistic World-Image

Abstract

This article is an attempt to describe the reflection of the concept POLITENESS in the language based on material in bulk (11 064 cases of occurrences of the key word Höflichkeit), which were taken from the Mannhein German Reference Corpus (COSMAS). The article analyzes the complex features of the concept of German modern language. According to the material, the most frequent features of the concept are diplomacy (3552) as the establishment of international relations, formality (2210) in compliance with generally accepted standards of conduct, acquired feature (1820) produced under the influence of certain conditions of social environment and success (1604) in everyday affairs and in the professional field. Less important appeared demonstrative politeness (522) to cause an affirmative attitude, hospitality (498) and features of good manners (780) of other nationalities in the view of nativ German speakers. The non relevant features are innateness (22) and falsity, untruth (56). Thus, the politeness in the imagination of native German speakers has formal, sometimes, ritual character, it is a social feature and serves to successfully perform various kinds of tasks.