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BRITISH VARIANT OF ENGLISH: NATIONAL PECULIARITIES OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION

A. V. Radyuk, E. N. Demchenko, N. Yu. Nelyubova

Abstract

The purpose of research is to study the linguacultural peculiarities of British national variant of English basing on the material of economic discourse. The methods include functional and pragmatic analysis of speech of representatives of economic and financial business circles. The major findings are that British economic discourse reflects such features of British mentality as evasiveness, ritualized nature, conventionality, individualism. The peculiarities of the national culture explain the tendency of the British to use cooperative strategies of business communication. It is noted that due to compliance with one of the basic principles of English discourse - the principle of politeness - speech planning is aimed primarily at preventing conflict situations and preserving the speaker's "face". Therefore, the forms of politeness are distinguished by their non-categorical and implicit nature. Thus, the speech behavior of the British is initially focused on smoothing intercultural differences, which is one of the factors that contribute to the spread of English as the main language of business communication in the world. During the analysis of empirical material, it turned out that the most common discursive strategies are mitigation, distancing and evasion. The business culture of the British is reflected in the strategies and tactics of business communication. As in other business cultures, the values of the British are business success, profit, respect for others and reputation. The distinctive features of British business culture are, on the one hand, the desire to maintain the public image, and, on the other hand, the protection of personal space. Preservation of one's face (a positive image, approved by others) is one of the conditions for effective communication. The authors come to the conclusion that personal independence and individualism, at first glance, distance the British from the partners. Nevertheless, these qualities create optimal conditions for communication, and, consequently, to comfortable speech interaction. The results of the research can be useful for specialists in intercultural communication, businessmen, students majoring in economics.

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