Constituencies of Politeness: Stiff Upper Lip

The article is analyses the concept Stiff Upper Lip as a means of representing the category of politeness in English. The article descirbes linguocultural peculiarities of the concept, its correlation with other culturally significant concepts and its role in expressing the category of politeness in English. The article uses examples from the English fiction, newspaper articles and the author’s observations. Being one of the universal categories of communication, politeness is expressed by different means depending on national and cultural peculiarities. The lingvocultural concept Stiff Upper Lip is culturally significant concept for the Anglo-Saxon mentality. It is linked with such notions as emotional reserve, determination, and self-control. One of the main features of the English communicative behaviour is taking into account the listener's interests and concerns. Consequently, keeping distance between inerlocutors is of great importance, as it gives an opportunity to preserve the communication parties' privacy. The authors come to the conclusion that the concept Stiff Upper Lip is one of the main means of verbal realization of the category of politeness in the English communicative behaviour.

stiff upper lip, politeness, culture, distance, concept, mentality, stiff upper lip