Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature

patterns of the perceived winner, in line with the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) developed by
Howard Giles (see for example, Giles and Smith, 1979). This theory represents a broad set of linguistic and extralinguistic
signals which enable us to adapt our communicative acts to those of our partners, shifting them along a
convergent or divergent direction in the sequence of exchange.
However, there is a logical objection to the use of PC: some men do not approve of the fact that “men only”
meetings, unlike “women only” meetings, are taboo. Hence, using PC language is a Catch-22 situation – if you do it, it
means that you are painfully aware of the differences between you and the pc-ed concept and either disapprove or
pretend to disapprove. And if you don’t, you are a racist, a rankist, or a male chauvinist. At the same time, it is always
a moot point, whether you say what you think, pretend to do so, or are keen to pretend nothing is wrong. Semantic
bleaching often dilutes political correctness statements, thus conjuring up the well-known words by Baudrillard that
the meaning is eroded via its excess.
In his seminal book Modernity and Self-Identity Anthony Giddens refers to consumer capitalism and its
efforts to standardize consumption and to shape tastes through advertising and to new ‘paternalism’ in which experts
of all types minister to the needs of the lay population (Giddens, 1994). Consequently, in conclusion I’d like to state
that the political correctness is a way of shaping attitudes within the context of this new ‘paternalism’ which can only
be achieved provided a degree of trust is generated in the ‘lay population’ by the western experts, As recipients and
developers of the new code we in Eastern Europe are supposed to trust the new shared discourse which reflects
standardized and globalized language. The world of the market is full of the “language of lies” and to get to the
meaning behind this language of lies we need a new grammar of communication. Pc is an essential part of it. Since
expertise and transaction are the determinants of the modern world which is increasingly becoming professional
(Moscovici), and expert-oriented (Giddens) – the new code makes the minds easier to control.
Pc is a strategy used to preserve personal images mutually, achieve a symmetry within relationships by hiding
(revealingly) any real or perceived inequality. It is an essential part of a new grammar of communication with its
underlying structure of wishful thinking; a new post-modernist discourse, poly-semic in the Bakhtinian sense – it both
reveals and hides one’s ideology simultaneously, i.e. it is the Mouth Wide Shut phenomenon.
Bibliography:
Barthes 1957: Barthes, R. “Mythologies“, Editions du Seul, 1957
Berman 2001: Berman, M. “The Twilight of American Culture”, NY, 2001, 29
Chomsky 2000: Chomsky, N. “Rogue States, the Rule of Force in World Affairs” .South End Press, Cambridge, 2000
Dunkerley et al, 2002: Dunkerley, K. et al. “Similarities and Differences in Perceptions and Evaluations if the Communication
Styles of American and British Managers”, Journal of Language and Social Psychology. Vol.21, No.4, 2002, p. 407
Fay 1996: Fay, B. Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science: A Multicultural Approach, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, p.59
Fillmore 1984: Fillmore, C. “Remarks on Contrastive Pragmatics” in J.Fisiak (ed.) Contrastive Linguistics: Prospects and Problem.
Berlin: Mouton, 1984, p. 129-130
Findlay 1998: Findlay, M. “Language and Communication”. ABC CLIO, Santa Barbara, 1998, p.50
Giddens 1994: Giddens, A. “Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age”, Cambridge: Polity Press,
1994, p. 172-174
Giles and Smith 1979: Giles, H. and P.M.Smith. “Accommodation Theory: Optimal Levels of Convergence’ in Giles, H. and
R..St.Clair (eds). Language and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1979
Grice 1999: Grice, H.P. ”Logic and Conversation”, in Adam Jaworski and Nikolas Coupland (eds.) The Discourse Reader. London:
Routledge, 1999, 76-88
Hall 1981: Hall, E.T. The Silent Language. New York: Anchor, 1981
Hofstede 1997: Hofstede Geert “Cultures and Organisations. Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997
Lakoff 1975: Lakoff, R. “Language and Woman’s Place”. New York: Harper and Row, 1975
Lakoff R 2001: Lakoff R. “The Language War”, University of California Press, Berkeley and LA, 2001
Levi Strauss 1962: Levi Strauss, C.” La Pensee sauvage”, Paris 1962
LDECL: Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture (Addison Wesley Longman, 1998
OPCDH: The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook (OPCDH ) by Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf . London:
Grafton, 1992
Outhart et al 2000: Outhart, I et al. Travel and Tourism. Marvell Collins, 2000
Pei 1973: Pei, M. Doublespeak in America. Hawthorn Books, 1973
Perianova 2002: Perianova, I.”Discourse and the Language of Avoidance”, Foreign Language Teaching, No.4, 2002, Sofia
Storti, 2001: Storti, C. “Old World, New World”, Yarmouth: Intercultural Press, 2001
Stewart et al., 1998: Stewart E., J.Danelian and R.Foster. “Cultural Assumptions and Values”. In Basic Concepts of Intercultural
Communication. Intercultural Press, Boston –London 1998, 161
Trompenaars and Hampden–Turner,1997: Fons Trompenaars, F. and Ch. Hampden-Turner “Riding the Waves of Culture:
Understanding Diversity in Global Business” New York: McGraw-Hill 1998
Tannen 1990: Tannen D. “You Just don’t Understand. Men and Women in Conversation”, New York: W.Morrow and Company,
1990
Tweedie, 2005: Tweedie, N. ”Hype-inflation of English”.
Http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/core/content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=global/2005/
Димитрова,1999: Димитрова Ст. “Езикова демагогия”, София: Наука и изкуство, 1999.
121