Abstrakt: | Expressive polite phrases, namely the ones containing diminutive forms, play a significant role
in interpersonal communication. According to Ożóg (1990, p. 72), they are aimed at convincing
the addressee of special, and not only formal or perfunctory, attitude of the speaker towards him/
her. Moreover, as it is usually the case, they are applied in situations when the speaker wants
to maintain the addressee’s positive face, for instance he/she wants to express meanings such as
familiarity, intimacy, or liking. Nevertheless, sometimes they may be used as acts threatening
the addressee’s positive or negative face. Usually, in the case of diminutives, face-threatening
acts are done off record, when the speaker wants to express irony, disrespect and pitifulness.
This article aims at answering the question about the role of diminutives in polite phrases. Are
they always related only to positive politeness? How is their presence in a sentence perceived by
the addressees? Moreover, the comparison between Polish and English will be provided as these
two languages differ significantly in terms of expressing emotions in a conversation. In order to
get answers for the questions mentioned above, a short questionnaire, containing some typical
expressive polite phrases, was distributed among a representative number of native speakers
of Polish and English, in order to assess whether the presence of diminutives influences their
impressions and reactions to these sentences. |