1887
Volume 7, Issue 3
  • ISSN 2210-4119
  • E-ISSN: 2210-4127
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Abstract

This study addresses the issue of politeness in compliment responses (CRs) among Iranian female university students. Using naturally occurring talk, 235 compliment-response exchanges were recorded during focus group interviews. The findings revealed that to mitigate impoliteness the interviewees displayed five extreme culture-specific politeness strategies as (1) tarof, (2) shekasteh-nafsi, (3) hyperreciprocation, (4) sha’n, and (5) double positive response. In female-female CR exchanges, interviewees attempted to foster a good impression by resorting to politeness strategies of , , and whereas in male-female CR exchanges, interviewees tried to undermine the appraised impression imposed by the opposite-sex compliments through politeness strategies that are anchored in and . This article concludes that Iranian women respond diversely to compliments by virtue of interaction among integrated components: the compliment topic, the complimenter’s sex, and cultural burdens.

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/content/journals/10.1075/ld.7.3.05mog
2017-11-27
2023-09-26
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): compliment; insincere responses; Iranian culture; Mixed Game Model; politeness
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