Āp kitnā kamāte haĩ? “How much money do you earn?” The Indian way of politeness
Āp kitnā kamāte haĩ? “How much money do you earn?” The Indian way of politeness

Author(s): Magdalena Varga
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Sociolinguistics, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Indian; politeness
Summary/Abstract: Everyone is aware of the fact that ignorance and the lack of proper knowledge are our worst enemies in every field of life. Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration to say that they are the cause of the most undesired results in the process of communication.The present paper shows how the language competence not followed by the knowledge of cultural background and context may lead to gaffes or misunderstandings at best, and even to offences and conflicts at worst. Its main goal is to outline the complex connection between family and caste in particular, or broadly speaking – community and religion in India, and to show the specificity of their influence on Hindi, the most widely known language of the Indian subcontinent. The paper describes all the most important factors which are crucial to the Indian concept of “face.” They also present grammatical and lexical measures and politeness strategies with the use of which Hindi speaking people deal within the multilevel socio-cultural relations and are able to coexist with each other more or less peacefully. Finally, the nuances one should take into account while making conversation with Hindi-speaking partner are mentioned.

• Details
• Contents