POLITENESS STRATEGIES AND MULTIMODAL EXPRESSION: A CROSS-LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Politeness is a fundamental component of human communication, enabling speakers to maintain social harmony and manage interpersonal relations. This article explores politeness strategies from a multimodal perspective, emphasizing both verbal and nonverbal means of expression. Special attention is given to the concept of face as proposed in pragmatic theory, as well as to the realization of politeness in English and Uzbek. Using a qualitative comparative approach, the study analyzes how linguistic forms, prosody, gestures, facial expressions, and cultural norms interact in polite communication. The findings demonstrate that while politeness principles are universal, their verbal and multimodal realizations are language- and culture-specific. The article contributes to pragmatic linguistics, intercultural communication, and discourse studies.