Abstract
<jats:p>The paper deals with pragmatic restrictions treated as limits of normal communication within certain situations. Violations of such limits result in communicative failure or switch the communication into a sphere of jokes. Such restrictions correlate with formal and semantic linguistic norms, they have a gradual nature and vary from absolute prohibitions to admissible, but not recommendable communicative actions. Pragmatic restrictions are ethnoculturally bound. They change in time, as new norms emerge and previous rules function no longer. Several types of pragmatic restrictions may be singled out in communication: 1) etiquette rules which fix the canons of demonstrating good will and respect; 2) fundamental norms of behavior which keep the most important communicative formats, mainly concerning religious prescriptions and prohibitions; 3) common sense rules in everyday personal communication; 4) ritual automatic adherence to traditional beliefs; 5) politically correct, which is a reaction to violations of the rights of an oppressed or vulnerable part of the population; 6) discourse and style norms characterizing situationally defined norms of communicative behavior.</jats:p>