Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T15:51:59.230Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Forms of address in post-revolutionary Iranian Persian: A sociolinguistic analysis1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz
Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz
Affiliation:
Department of EducationUniversity College of WalesDepartment of Foreign LanguagesTeacher Training University, Tehran
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The sudden shift from power to solidarity in Iran in the face of the sociopolitical upheaval in the country has yielded some interesting changes in the forms of address in Persian. In general, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, forms of address in Persian have undergone a sociolinguistic simplification. In post-revolutionary Iran plain speech and forms of address marking solidarity have gained popularity, whereas asymmetrical forms reflecting the complex social class structure of pre-revolutionary Iran have gradually declined. This article gives a sociolinguistic account of the forms of address in present-day Iranian Persian and documents the impact of the revolution on this aspect of the Persian language. (Sociopolitical change, language change, forms of address, politeness systems, Iranian Persian)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 1988 , pp. 565 - 575
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E., & Benigni, L. (1975). Rules of address in Italy: A sociolinguistic survey. Language in Society 4:271–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beeman, W. O. (1986). Language, status, and power in Iran. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, R., & Gilman, A. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. In Sebeok, T. A. (ed.), Style in language. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press. 253–376.Google Scholar
Comrie, B., & Stone, G. (1978). The Russian language since the revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fang, H. Q., & Heng, J. H. (1983). Social changes and changing address norms in China. Language in Society 12:495–507.Google Scholar
Fincher, B. H. (1973). The Chinese language in its new social context. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1:163–69.Google Scholar
Friedrich, P. (1972). Social context and semantic feature: The Russian pronominal usage. In Gumperz, J. & Hymes, D. (eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 270–300.Google Scholar
Haugen, E. (1975). Pronominal address in Icelandic: From you-two to you-all. Language in Society 4:323–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, M. (1981). Language and social distinctions in Iran. In Bonine, M. & Keddie, N. (eds.), Modern Iran: The dialectics of continuity and change. Albany: State University of New York Press. 327–340.Google Scholar
Hodge, C. (1957). Some aspects of Persian style. Language 33(3):355–69.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (ed.) (1964). Language in culture and society: A reader in linguistics and anthropology. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (1972). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In Gumperz, J. & Hymes, D. (eds.), Directions in Sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 35–71.Google Scholar
Jahangiri, N. (1980). A sociolinguistic study of Persian in Tehran. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Jones, O. F. (1965). The pronouns of address in present-day Icelandic. Scandinavian Studies 37:245–58.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paulston, C. B. (1976). Pronouns of address in Swedish: Social class semantics and a changing system. Language in Society 5:359–86.Google Scholar
Scotton, C. M., & Wanjin, Zhu (1983). Tóngzhì in China: Language change and its conversational consequences. Language in Society 12:477–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1963). Some aspects of the use of pronouns of address in Yiddish. Word 19:193–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windfuhr, G. L. (1979). Persian grammar: History and the state of its study. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar