Gender factor in the expression of politeness in Farsi

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the role of gender in the expression of politeness in the Iranian language, Farsi (Persian). Expressions of linguistic politeness are believed to be cultural universals. Farsi is known for the complexities of its politeness system, called ‘ta’aroff’, which reflects social hierarchies. This study employs a questionnaire interview and dialogical text analysis (ta’aroff expressions count) to explore whether the production and perception of ta’aroff differs across genders. The questionnaire contained demographic information and statements related to attitudes to ta’aroff. The participants were also requested to create dialogues based on a presented shopping prompt scenario. Iranian women (30) and men (30) of two age groups (20–29 and 40–59 years old) participated in the study. The results show statistically significant differences in the attitudes to ta’aroff in that men’s attitudes to ta’aroff are generally more positive than women’s. In the shopping prompt dialogues, women produced fewer ta’aroff expressions than men. There were also some differences found in the use of specific ta’aroff expressions across genders. The results suggest that gender should be considered a factor influencing both ta’aroff use in speech production and the attitudes to ta’aroff.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender factors
• politeness
• language use
• linguistic attitudes
• Farsi
• (Persian)
• Iranian politeness system
• ta’aroff

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Veronika Makarova

Veronika Makarova is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics, University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include bilingualism, multilingualism, politeness systems, Russian linguistics and Doukhobor studies.

Elham Pourmohammadi

Elham Pourmohammadi is a graduate student in the Department of Linguistics, University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include politeness systems, as well as gender and age factors in language use.