Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied LinguisticsVol. 147/148 (2005) ► pp.63–77
Vol. 147/148 (2005) ► pp.63–77
Sociolinguistic Transfer
The Case Of Persian Speakers In Australia
This paper focuses on the ways in which misunderstanding occurs between two interlocutors with different cultural backgrounds. As such, its main concern is with sociolinguistic transfer (Chick, 1996). Based on a cross-cultural model, it aims to investigate certain socio-pragmatic issues, (i.e. terms of address, offers and request types) affecting Iranian and Australian interlocutors. The issues in question will be compared and contrasted to ascertain what types of culturally communicative transfers might be invoked in the interaction between the interlocutors from these two different sociolinguistic milieus. The analysis of data will be based mainly on ethnographical introspection. By providing a systematic analysis of the transfer types involved, the paper will also suggest some socio-pragmatic explanations regarding their possible sources. Moreover, it will be argued that understanding the miscommunication arising from such interactions will sheds some light on the process of potential negative stereotypes. All in all, the present study can be said to make some contribution in the areas of language teaching, crosscultural translation, and intercultural communication.
References
AFSHAR, M.R.
(1993) Conventional expressions of the English and Persian directive speech acts: a study of pragmalinguistics. M.A. Dissertation: Shiraz University, Iran.
ASTON, G.
(1995) Say 'thank you': some pragmatic constraints in conversational closings. Applied Linguistics, 16(1), 57–86.
BEEMAN, W. O.
(1986) Language, Status, and Power in Iran. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
AMOUZADEH, M.
(2001) Politeness in Persian. Language Forum, 271,201–208.
BOXER, D.
(2002) Applying Sociolinguistics: Domains and Face-to-Face Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
CHICK, J. K.
(1996) Intercultural communication. In Mckay & Hornberger (Eds.) Sociolinguistics and Langauge Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 329–348.
GHANOONPARVAR, M. R.
(1993) In a Persian Mirror: Images of the West and Western in Iranian Fiction. Austin: Texas University Press.
GUMPERZ, J. J.
(1981) Communicative competence. In Coupland & Jaworski (Eds.) (1997) Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. London: Macmillan Press, 39–48.
(1982) Interethnic communication. In Coupland and Jaworski (eds.) (1997) Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. London: Macmillan Press, 395–407.
HEWSTONE, M., & GILES, H.
(1986) Social groups and social stereotypes. In Coupland & Jaworski (eds.) (1997): Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Course book. London: Macmillan Press, 270–283.
KASPER, G., & BLUM-KULKA, S.
(Eds.) (1993) Interlanguage Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.
KESHAVARZ, M.H.
(1988) Forms of address in post-revolutionary Iranian Persian: a sociolinguistic analysis. Language in Society, 171,565–75.
KOUTLAKI, S. A.
(2002) Offers and expressions of thanks as face enhancing acts: tae'arof in Persian. Journal of Pragmatics, 341, 1733–1756.
LADO, R.
(1957) Linguistics Across Cultures. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.
LYONS, J.
(1995) Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
OCHS, E.
(1983) Cultural dimensions of language acquisition. In Coupland & Jaworski (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook .. London: Macmillan Press, 430–442.
ROMAINE, S.
(1994) Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
SCOllON, R., & SCALLON, S.W.
(1996) Intercultural Communication. A Discourse Approach. Oxford, Blackwell.
TAlGHANI-NIKAZM, C.
(2002) A conversation analytical study of telephone conversation openings between native and nonnative speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 341, 1807–1832.
TANNEN, D.
(1985) Cross-cultural communication. In Van Dijk (Ed.), Handbook of Discourse Analysis: Discourse Analysis in Society. (Vol.41). London: Academic Press, 203–215.