Many techniques of linguistic mitigation are
closely related to strategies of verbal politeness. A classic example are
utterances of the type Could you please pass the bread? which function as a
polite request. The core question is how this well-known communicative routine
can be described in the interplay of language and culture. Based on Eugenio
Coseriu’s concept of the system of a language as a form of cultural competence
we raise the question whether such routines belong to the linguistic traditions
of a language or whether this technique is to be seen as a cultural discourse
tradition that may be realized within various languages. In the field of
linguistic mitigation and verbal politeness the concept of discourse tradition
opens up a methodological perspective that enables us to describe the
interaction of language and culture.