Politeness among Iranians: Taarof use in focus
Date
2023-03-21
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0009-0002-1924-6396
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This study focuses on the Iranian exaggerated politeness system called “taarof”. It investigates Iranians’ attitudes toward taarof use as well as some features of taarof perception and production which may be affected by gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic variation. To do so, I recruited a total of 96 research participants (within the age group of 30 to 40 years old) who were grouped by the above variables as follows: a) gender: 48 males and 48 females; b) two educational backgrounds: 48 secondary education and 48 post-secondary education; c) two different urban areas: 48 Isfahan residents and 48 Alborz residents; and d) two occupational categories: 48 skilled and 48 unskilled. As an initial step, a questionnaire survey was employed to obtain quantifiable data on perception of taarof characteristics and on taarof use by the participants. Second, a speech production elicitation technique was used to elicit taarof expressions in quasi-spontaneous prompted dialogues. All the 10-minute conversations were recorded and transcribed for further analysis. The results of the survey part showed that attitudes toward taarof significantly differ by geographical variation and socioeconomic status, however, not by gender. In addition, the analysis of the conversation transcripts displayed significant differences in the frequency of taarof use by province and education, whereas no significant differences were observed by gender and occupation.
Description
Keywords
Politeness system, taarof, taarof expressions, gender, geographical variation, socioeconomic status, education, occupation
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Linguistics
Program
Linguistics