Stereotyping of Characters’ Speech

This article focuses on the process of stereotyping female characters’ speech as presented in the works by British playwrights of the second half of the nineteenth century. The findings indicate that the principle of politeness with its ambivalent orientation toward asserting common ground, being optimistic and emotional vs. being conventionally indirect, pessimistic and impersonal was considered to be leading for female representatives of the historic period under study. The cognitive level comprises adherence to a sense of belonging and traditions while the linguistic level focuses on indirect conveying of information. Elements of non-verbal communication of British plays female characters have also been studied; the tendencies of applying gestures, intonation and proxemics elements are similar to those of politeness strategies: formallized polite behavior is dominant with rare cases of women expressing their emotions publicly.