The linguistic and cultural significance of formulaic expressions

Abstract

This article examines the linguistic and cultural significance of formulaic expressions,particularly, greeting and farewell rituals within Russian, English, and Uzbek communicative cultures. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of cultural linguistics and anthropocentric approaches to language, the study analyses how formulaic expressions encode national mentality, worldview, and social values. The research integrates comparative linguocultural analysis with pragma-semantic interpretation of speech etiquette, demonstrating that greetings function as culturally embedded communicative acts that regulate interpersonal relations, signal social distance or solidarity, and preserve ethnocultural identity. Special attention is devoted to Uzbek greeting rituals, which exhibit a high degree of ritualization, sociocultural symbolism, and religious grounding. The findings highlight that formulaic expressions serve not only as linguistic units but also as cultural markers that transmit ethical norms, traditional worldviews, and collective memory.