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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 8:2 (2017) ► pp.231–253

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Perception of (im)politeness and the underlying cultural conceptualisations

A study of Persian

 | Monash University
 | Monash University
Published online: 10 August 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.8.2.04sha
Abstract
The present study sets out to investigate the role of ‘culture’ as one of the many important factors that influence the evaluation of (im)politeness in Persian from a Cultural Linguistics perspective. The paper argues that Cultural Linguistics, and in particular the notion of cultural schema, has the potential to offer a robust analytical framework for the exploration of (im)polite use of language. We elaborate on this proposal by presenting examples of data from Persian in which speakers interpret impolite behaviour in light of a number of Persian cultural schemas. The study also offers a novel three-layered approach for the analysis of (im)politeness data that combines metadiscourse analysis with the ethnography of cultural conceptualisations, while highlighting the importance of the notion of ‘heterogeneous distribution’ of cultural conceptualisations, a pivotal theoretical concept in Cultural Linguistics which accounts for the variations in speakers’ evaluation of (im)politeness.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.(Im)politeness norms and the underlying cultural schemas
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.(Im)politeness in Persian and the underlying cultural schemas
    • 4.1The ta’arof cultural schema
      • 4.1.1 Ta’arof when making a request
      • 4.1.2 Ta’arof when offering goods and services
      • 4.1.3 Ta’arof when accepting goods and services
      • 4.1.4 Ta’arof when making ostensible invitations
  • 5.Heterogeneous distributions of cultural schemas
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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