Russian Journal of LinguisticsRussian Journal of LinguisticsRussian Journal of Linguistics2687-00882686-8024Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)1730810.22363/2312-9182-2017-21-4-767-788ArticlesСтатьиArticlesResearch ArticleTHE EXPRESSION OF POLITENESS IN A BILINGUAL SETTING: EXPLORING THE CASE OF MALTESE ENGLISHВЫРАЖЕНИЕ ВЕЖЛИВОСТИ В УСЛОВИЯХ БИЛИНГВИЗМА НА ПРИМЕРЕ МАЛЬТИЙСКОГО ВАРИАНТА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКАCremonaMartinaКремонаМартинаMartina Cremona is a graduate of Linguistics at the University of Malta. Research interests: sociolinguistics, politeness theory and cross-cultural studies.Мартина Кремона - выпускница факультета лингвистики Мальтийского университета. Сфера научных интересов: социолингвистика, теория вежливости и межкультурные исследования.martina.cremona.14@um.edu.mtAssimakopoulosStavrosАссимакопулосСтавросStavros Assimakopoulos is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Malta. Research interests: linguistics, philosophy and cognitive psychology, inferential pragmatics and discourse analysis. He recently edited two volumes: Pragmatics at its Interfaces (Mouton de Gruyter, 2017) and Current issues in Intercultural Pragmatics (John Benjamins, 2017; with Istvan Kecskes).Ставров Ассимакопулос - доктор лингвистики, работает в Мальтийском университете. Сфера его научных интерерсов лежит на стыке лингвистики, философии и когнитивной психологии и касается в первую очередь прагматики и дискурс-анализа.stavros.assimakopoulos@um.edu.mtVellaAlexandraВеллаАлександраAlexandra Vella is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Malta. Research interests: phonetics and phonology, particularly intonational phonology. Her main research focus is on prosody and intonation in Maltese and its dialects, and on the influence of the language background of Maltese speakers on the intonational structure of Maltese English. She is also interested in interlanguage phonology and in accent and dialect variation.Александра Велла - доктор, профессор лингвистики Мальтийского университета. Специализируется в области фонетики и фонологии, главным образом интонационной фонологии. Сфера научных интересов: просодия и интонация в мальтийском языке и его диалектах, а также влияние мальтийского языка на интонационную структуру мальтийского варианта английского языка, межъязыковая фонология, диалектная вариативность.alexandra.vella@um.edu.mtUniversity of MaltaМальтийский университет15122017214VOL 21, NO4 (2017)ТОМ 21, №4 (2017)76778819112017Copyright ©; 2017, Cremona M., Assimakopoulos S., Vella A.Copyright ©; 2017, Кремона М., Ассимакопулос С., Велла А.Copyright ©; 2017, Cremona M., Assimakopoulos S., Vella A.2017Cremona M., Assimakopoulos S., Vella A.Кремона М., Ассимакопулос С., Велла А.Cremona M., Assimakopoulos S., Vella A.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0https://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/17308Single-moment studies have traditionally been carried out with the aim of investigating the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic skills of non-native speakers compared to those of native speakers of a particular language. The present study aims to investigate the parallel skills in expressing politeness of Maltese bilingual speakers rather than differences between native and non-native speakers in this respect. Since the variety of English spoken in Malta has often been characterised as distinct from British English, we used a small-scale spoken discourse completion task to examine the extent to which British English and Maltese affect the expression of politeness in Maltese English, in the context of requests and apologies. To this end, we compared the responses provided by three distinct groups of participants in terms of the use of particular politeness strategies, as well as the frequency and intonation of politeness markers. The re-sults obtained remain largely inconclusive partly due to certain limitations arising from use of the discourse completion task methodology. They nevertheless do provide preliminary evidence, which is, to our mind, worth exploring further, of a close similarity between Maltese English and Maltese in terms of the into-nation that accompanies markers of politeness.Традиционно целью исследований является анализ прагмалингвистических и социолингвистических навыков неносителей того или иного языка по сравнению с его носителями. Данная статья нацелена не столько на рассмотрение различий между носителями и неносителями языка, сколько на выявление параллельных навыков выражения вежливости мальтийскими билингвами. Поскольку разновидность английского языка, распространенная на Мальте, часто характеризуется как отличная от британского английского, мы посчитали целесообразным провести небольшой эксперимент в виде анкетирования в области дискурса для определения степени влияния мальтийского и британского английского языков на выражение вежливости в мальтийском варианте английскго языка. Объектом исследования послужили речевые акты просьбы и извинения. Для достижения поставленной цели мы сравнили ответы представителей трех различных групп участников эксперимента на предмет использования определенных стратегий вежливости, а также частотности употребления маркеров вежливости, в том числе интонационных. Полученные результаты не позволяют сделать окончательные выводы из-за ограничений, возникающих в процессе выявления дискурсивных практик методом анкетирования. Тем не менее, полученные нами предварительные данные, на наш взгляд, заслуживают дальнейшего изучения и свидетельствуют о сходстве между мальтийским языком и мальтийским английским в области интонационных моделей, сопровождающих маркеры вежливости.Maltese Englishpolitenessbilingualismdiscourse completion taskrequestsapologiesintonationhedges/mitigatorsмальтийский английскийвежливостьбилингвизмзадание по использо-ванию дискурсивных моделейпросьбыизвиненияинтонацияограничение/смягчение1.Assimakopoulos, S. 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