INDIRECTNESS AND POLITENESS IN UZBEK POLITICAL JOURNALISM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55640/Keywords:
indirectness, politeness, political journalism, Uzbek media discourse, pragmatics, face-savingAbstract
This study investigates the use of indirectness and politeness strategies in Uzbek political journalism from a pragmatic perspective. Political media discourse plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion, particularly in societies where sociocultural norms value respect, harmony, and face-saving communication. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory and indirectness frameworks in pragmatics, this research analyzes how Uzbek journalists employ linguistic strategies to express criticism, evaluation, and ideological positioning without overt confrontation. Using a qualitative discourse-analytic approach, the study examines a corpus of political articles published in major Uzbek online news outlets between 2021 and 2024. The findings reveal that indirectness is systematically realized through modal constructions, passive voice, euphemisms, hedging devices, and culturally embedded expressions. These strategies function to mitigate face-threatening acts, maintain social harmony, and align journalistic discourse with national communicative norms. The study contributes to research in political discourse analysis, pragmatics, and translation studies by highlighting the culturally specific realization of politeness in Uzbek media and its implications for education, media literacy, and cross-cultural translation.
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