Pragmatic Linguistics and Sociolinguistics: Culture vs Speech

Language is an essential feature of societies, and there are five distinctive language styles which are commonly used in conversations. It is only natural that people switch between these styles, and, as a result, they speak in different styles in different situations. Furthermore, based on distinctive factors influencing people’s speech, we tend to employ different degrees of politeness and directness in different situations. This work identifies, analyses, and compares the language styles and degrees of directness and politeness used in the English and Slovak languages by presenters of a number of live television shows. The chosen shows for this book are broadcast live, which means the presenters do not follow a script, and their language is more natural. Moreover, these live shows are broadcast on non-commercial national television networks, which are known for their objectivity and use of standard language. The results of this analysis contribute to sociolinguistic and pragmalinguistic research, not only in Slovakia, but also worldwide.