as a speech formula for the “newest Russian politeness”
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.
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as a speech formula for the “newest Russian politeness” // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2019. № 3. Pp. 225–233. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/68/20.