Article

Name: “Mozhno, pozhaluysta...” as a speech formula for the “newest Russian politeness”

Authors: I. V. Vysotskaya, O. I. Severskaya

Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk, Russian Federation; Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract: The object of study is the etiquette formula mozhno, pozhaluysta... with the meaning of the request . This formula appeared in the modern Russian speech relatively recently, is actively functioning in the children and youth environment and was included in the long list of “Words of 2017.” The authors consid- er this formula as a manifestation of dynamic processes in the sphere of Russian speech etiquette. It can be assumed that this formula initially appeared as a result of a literal translation, as a copy of an English-language phrase May I − ‘Mogu li ya / mogu ya..?’ in a television show. Copying the gentle English style was rather clumsy, not to say abnormal. It may have also been the result of the blending of two different- ly shaped phrases Mozhno? Pozhaluysta. The fast pace of speech can cause their merging within one measure. However, the expression acquires a different intonation pattern, and, most importantly, expresses a different semantics. The excessive use of mozhno and pozhaluysta shows two noticeable trends: first, it fits into a range of pleonastic combinations; second, pozhaluysta, in this case, is used practically as a “smiley,” with the mean- ing of the word being duplicated by constructions. The new etiquette formula currently functions in oral and written discourses. From a colloquial speech, it penetrates the language of television, the Internet, modern poetry. The data for the study were taken from the authors’ files using the “included observation” method, the Russian National Corpus, Internet sites, etc.

Keywords: speech formula, excessive use, the newest Russian politeness, Russian speech etiquette, polydiscursivity

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