چکیده:
Although studies on pragmatics in general and politeness in particular abound in the literature, impoliteness has been largely ignored. In the present study, participants filled out either the Persian or English version of a discourse completion test (DCT). The researchers analyzed collected answers to discover the relationship between impoliteness and power. Furthermore, the researchers compared responses to the Persian version with responses to the English version to see if they diverge regarding the relationship between impoliteness and power. According to the number of impoliteness strategies used, the results show that though there is a positive relationship between impoliteness and power in Persian, there is no relationship in English responses. In comparing the mentioned relationship in two languages, there is a significant difference between them. This led to the conclusion that the learners did not realize the relationship between impoliteness and power in English, whereas in answering the Persian DCT their answers showed the recognition of that relationship.
خلاصه ماشینی:
com Introduction There are a lot of studies focusing on interlanguage pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig, 1996 &1999; Blum-Kulka, 1982; Cohen, 2008; Kasper, Rose & Kasper, 2001 and Walters, 2007 among others) and politeness theory (Bargiela-Chiappini, 2003; Meier, 1997; and Myers, 1989 among others).
2) There is no significant relationship between different power statuses (high and low) in the English questionnaire regarding the use of impoliteness strategies by high-intermediate students of English.
3) There is no significant difference between the frequency of impoliteness strategies used by high-intermediate and basic students in English and Persian questionnaires respectively, considering the situations where the participants are assumed to have more power over the interlocutor.
Table 1 Characteristics of Situations in DCT Power status of participant Speech act Number Refusal 3 High Complaint 1 Request 1 Refusal 2 Low Request 2 Disagreement 1 Procedure The respondents were asked to fill out the questionnaire in the classroom in 30 minutes.
] Table 3 Analysis of Chi-square for Persian Group’s Use of Impoliteness in High and Low DCT LANGUAGE SITUATION (high &low) Chi-Square 22.
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant relationship between different power statuses (high and low) in the English questionnaire regarding the use of impoliteness strategies by high-intermediate students of English.
Based on these results it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the English and Persian groups’ use of impoliteness strategies in high DCT.
Regarding universality of pragmatic concepts such as politeness or impoliteness (Brown & Levinson, 1987; Culpeper, 2009), the results do not support it; since if this kind of knowledge were universal, the participants would perform more similar in two different languages.