A triangulation analysis of title honorifics in Persian in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran

Persian speakers’ use of title honorifics (Beeman, 1986; Levinson, 1983; Sharifian, 2011) is highly complex. This study will report on its complexity in terms of a triangulation of discursive, sociolinguistic/sociocultural,... [ view full abstract ]

Persian speakers’ use of title honorifics (Beeman, 1986; Levinson, 1983; Sharifian, 2011) is highly complex. This study will report on its complexity in terms of a triangulation of discursive, sociolinguistic/sociocultural, and cognitive relations (van Dijk, 2006) in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. From discursive point of view a Persian speaker needs to use an appropriate title honorific for his/her addressee which depends, among things, on age, gender and the degree of power. The use of title honorifics should also be recognised from a cognitive standpoint because the use impacts the mental state of the addressee in a way that the conversation that is built around this will create a sense of dignity and high spirit in the addressee and a sense of belief and trust in the addressor which together form a complex social network. To unravel this, as a speaker of Persian grown up among the nomads and living among them for a considerable length of time and after that living in the city life and university environment, I will look at a wide spectrum of rural titles, such as ‘ka’, ‘Mashadi’, ‘hadji’, etc., to city life titles, such as ‘Agahye Doctor’, ‘Aghaye Mohandes’, etc., and highlight the importance of title honorifics for social maintenance. However, what is further discussed in this study is how the Iranian immigrants face this challenge when addressing their Iranian fellow citizens in an Anglophone and multilingual society like Australia where names without titles are the preferred form whereas the translation of this into Persian would be considered non-courteous, disdainful and disrespectful, hence conversation becomes unfavourable.