Językowe oraz pozawerbalne wyróżniki XIX-wiecznego savoir-vivre’u i rozmów salonowych w opowiadaniu Stefanii Ulanowskiej Babie lato

Abstract

The article discusses linguistic and non-verbal features of 19th-century savoir-ivre. Babie lato [Indian Summer] by Stefania Ulanowska (1839–?), the source text under scrutiny, is a 21-page short story, which has most probably never come out in print. There are four conversation situations in the text: 1) a symmetrical setup (the interlocutors have equal social status and comparable pragmatic rank), 2) a symmetrical setup with asymmetrical features, related to the conversation between a man and a woman, 3) a less distanced asymmetrical setup, where the participants of the conversation are the mother and children, 4) a full asymmetric setup, in which the mistress of the house addresses the maid. The short story moreover features non-verbal etiquette features, such as a man tipping over his hat when he sees a woman and a man kissing a woman’s hand. The characteristics of etiquette observed in Babie lato are a supplement to the deliberations on savoir-vivre in the 19th century and confirm the changes that took place at that time in terms of courtesy in comparison with the old Polish period. They are also a testimony to the old culture of the nobility, transferred to bourgeoisie houses.