The role of object distance and gender in Persian compliment responses
This study investigated the effect of the distance of the object of the compliment from the complimentee on
compliment responses in Persian. A further aim of the study was to understand whether gender of the complimentee made a difference
to the response pattern. To this end, 2652 Persian compliment responses were elicited through Discourse Completion Tasks from 563
BA students majoring in twenty disciplines at a university in Iran. The findings revealed that the distance of the object of the
compliment did not influence the degree of acceptance or rejection of the compliment. It was also found that Iranian university
students’ compliment response behavior, mostly characterized by the rejection or evasion of compliments was shifting toward
accepting compliments. This observation is attributed to increasing chances of exposure to and interaction with foreign media such
as satellite TV, the Internet, foreign films, series, etc. among Persian university students.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature review
- 2.1Theoretical framework
- 2.2CRs and cross-cultural differences
- 2.3CRs and object distance
- 2.4CRs and gender
- 3.Methodology
- 3.1Participants
- 3.2Instruments
- 3.3Procedure
- 4.Results
- 5.Discussion and conclusion
- Acknowledgements
-
References
References (44)
Baba, Junko
1997 A
study of interlanguage pragmatics: compliment responses by learners of Japanese and English as a second
language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Brown, Penelope., and Stephen C. Levinson
1978 “
Universals
in language usage: politeness phenomena.” In
Questions and
politeness, ed. by
E. N. Goody, 56–324. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brown, Penelope., and Stephen C. Levinson
1987 Politeness:
Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Rong
1993 “
Responding
to compliments: a contrastive study of politeness strategies between American English and Chinese
speakers.”
Journal of
Pragmatics 201: 49–75.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Rong
2011 “
Compliment
and Compliment Response Research: A Cross-Cultural
Survey.” In
Pragmatics across Languages and
Cultures, ed. by.,
Trosborg, 79–101. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Rong., and Dafu Yang
2010 “
Responding
to compliments in Chinese: has it changed?”
Journal of
Pragmatics 42(7): 1951–1963.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Coates, Jennifer
2004 Women,
Men and Language. Harlow, UK: Longman. 3rd ed.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davis, Briallen
2008 “
Compliment
responses across gender.”
Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural
Communication 1 (2): 76–87
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Daikuhara, Midori
1986 “
A
study of compliments from a cross-cultural perspective: Japanese vs. American English.”
Working
Papers in Educational
Linguistics 2(2): 103–134
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eckert, Penelope., and Sally McConnel-Ginet
2003 Language
and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Golato, Andrea
2002 “
German
compliment responses.”
Journal of
Pragmatics 341: 547–571.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gu, Yueguo
1990 “
Politeness
phenomena in modern Chinese.”
Journal of
Pragmatics 14(2): 237–257.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Han, Chung-Hye
1992 “
A
comparative study of compliment responses: Korean females in Korean interactions and in English
interactions.”
Working Papers in Educational
Linguistics 8 (2): 17–31
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heidari, Mohammad Ali, Mohsen Rezazadeh, and Abbas Rasekh
2009 “
A
contrastive study of compliment responses among male and female Iranian teenage EFL
learners.”
The International Journal of Language, Society and
Culture 291: 18–31
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Herbert, Robert K.
1986 “
Say ‘thank you’---or
something.”
American
Speech 611: 76–88.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Herbert, Robert K.
1990 “
Sex-based differences in
compliment behaviour.”
Language in
Society 191: 201–224.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hofstede, Geert
1986 “
Cultural
differences in teaching and learning.”
International Journal of Intercultural
Relations 101: 301–320.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holmes, Janet
1986 “
Compliments
and compliment responses in New Zealand English.”
Anthropological
Linguistics 28(4): 485–508
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holmes, Janet
1988 “
Paying
compliments: a sex-preference politeness strategy.”
Journal of
Pragmatics 121: 445–465.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leech, Geoffrey. N.
1983 Principles of
Pragmatics. London: Longman.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Loh Wai Chee, Teresa
1993 Responses
to compliments across language and cultures: a comparative study of British and Hong Kong
Chinese.
Research Report no. 30, City University of Hong Kong.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Manes, Joan
1983 “
Compliments:
a mirror of cultural values.” In
Sociolinguistics and Language
Acquisition, ed. by
Nessa Wolfson and
Judd Elliot, 96–102. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mohajernia, Reza., and Hassan Soleimani
2013 “
Different
strategies of compliment responses used by Iranian EFL students and Australian English
speakers.”
Journal of Language Teaching and
Research 4(2): 340–347.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nelson, Gaylen, Mahmoud Al-batal, and Erin Echols
1996 “
Arabic
and English compliment responses: potential for pragmatic failure.”
Applied
Linguistics 17(4): 411–432.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Othman, Normala
2011 “
Pragmatic
and cultural considerations of compliments responses among Malaysian-Malay
speakers.”
Asiatic 5(1): 86–103.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pomerantz, Anita
1978 “
CRs:
Notes on the cooperation of multiple constraints.” In
Studies in the
Organization of Conversational Interaction, ed. by
Jim Schenkein, 115–132. New York: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pratiwi, Dian
2013 Gender-Based
Differences in Compliments and Respective Responses between Teachers and Students at ILP
Kediri. Unpublished MA Thesis, Universitas Brawijaya.
Rees-Miller, Janie
2011 “
Compliments
revisited: contemporary compliments and gender.”
Journal of
Pragmatics 43(11): 2673–2688.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Saito, Hidetoshi, and Masako Beecken
1997 “
An
approach to instruction of pragmatic aspects: implications of pragmatic transfer by American learners of
Japanese.”
The Modern Language
Journal 81(3): 363–377.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sharifian, Farzad
2008 “
Cultural
Schemas in L1 and L2 Compliment Responses: A Study of Persian Speaking Learners of
English.”
Journal of Politeness
Research 4 (1): 55–80.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talbot, Mary M.
1998 Language and Gender: An
Introduction. Bodmin, Cornwall: MPG Books.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wang, Yu-Fang., and Tsai, Pi-Hua
2003 “
An
empirical study on compliments and compliment responses in Taiwan Mandarin
conversation.”
Concentric: Studies in English Literature and
Linguistics 29(2): 118–155.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wolfson, Nessa
1983 “
An
empirically based analysis of complimenting in American
English.” In
Sociolinguistics and Language
Acquisition, ed. by
Nessa Wolfson and
Judd Elliot, 82–95. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wolfson, Nessa, and Joan Manes
1980 “
The
compliment as a social strategy”.
International Journal of Human
Communication 13(3): 391–410.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wu, Si-Yuan
2006 A
study of compliment responses uttered by senior high school students in Taiwan. Unpublished
Master’s Thesis, Providence University.
Ye, Lei
1995 “
Complimenting
in Mandarin Chinese.” In
Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target
Language. Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, ed. by
G. Kasper, 207–295. University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yu, M.
1999 Cross-cultural
and interlanguage pragmatics: developing communicative competence in a second
language. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University.
Yu, Ming-Chung
2004 “
Interlinguistic
variation and similarity in second language speech behavior.”
The Modern Language
Journal 88(1): 102–119.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yu, Ming-Chung
2005 “
Sociolinguistic
competence in the complimenting act of native Chinese and American English speakers: a mirror of cultural
value.”
Language and
Speech 481: 91–119.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yule, George
2003 Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Rabab’ah, Ghaleb, Sharif Alghazo, Reem Al-Hajji & Samer Jarbou
2024.
A pragmatic analysis of compliment response strategies by Emirati Arabic speakers.
Cogent Arts & Humanities 11:1
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.