Komplimentu lietojums saziņā: semantiskais un pragmatiskais aspekts

To date, compliments have not been the primary focus of researchers in Latvian linguistics. Compliments are a means of expressing linguistic politeness, but other linguistic forms of its expression have been examined more. The article aims to analyse the use of compliments in communication from semantic and pragmatic perspectives, and to characterise the compliment recipient’s response. The practical material is spoken and written utterances, as well as pairs of utterances (about 200 units), recorded in various speech situations, social media, mass media and the WhatsApp application. In Latvian explanatory dictionaries, the meaning of the word compliment is usually associated with flattery and pleasing. The positive semantics of the word compliment appears only in Latvian synonym dictionaries, where it is included in two categories – glorification and praise – as the last unit of the synonym row. In linguistic pragmatics, the use of compliments is viewed both as a speech act and as a politeness strategy. Genuinely expressed compliments can positively influence the addressee. Only a small proportion of express survey participants (6.8%) reported feeling flattered when receiving a compliment. Even fewer, 4.9% of respondents, give someone a compliment in order to flatter. Thus, there is a reason to clarify the semantics of the word compliment in the “Dictionary of the Modern Latvian Language”. From the point of view of politeness, not only are the content of the compliment and its suitability for the speech situation important, but also the recipient’s response.