خلاصة:
The present study aimed to identify strategies used to realize the speech act of offerin Persian. To do so, 195 male and female native Persian speakers were selected fromdiverse age ranges, educational backgrounds, and social classes, and were assigned a36-item Discourse Completion Task (DCT) to elicit the speech act of offer. Thirtyfield workers also recorded naturally occurring interactions containing the speech actof offer. The responses were coded using 12 categories to determine the strategiesused. Factors of age, gender, offer type, social distance, and relative power did notprove to be significantly effective in the choice of the offer strategies. It could beconcluded that Persian speakers tend to be more indirect and Locution Derivable,Query Preparatory, and Hedged Imperative are favorite strategies among them.
ملخص الجهاز:
To do so, 195 male and female native Persian speakers were selected from diverse age ranges, educational backgrounds, and social classes, and were assigned a 36-item Discourse Completion Task (DCT) to elicit the speech act of offer.
It could be concluded that Persian speakers tend to be more indirect and Locution Derivable, Query Preparatory, and Hedged Imperative are favorite strategies among them.
Thirty six scenarios were formed considering and controlling for the most frequent types of offers (Gift, Hospitable, Help), social distance (close or distant), and relative power (equal, low, or high).
Considering the variables in the study, the observers (field workers) were asked to note down the actual utterance of offer, situation, gender, approximate age group, educational level, and the relationship between the offerer and offeree.
According to Barron, eight offer strategies are employed by speakers: (1) Mood Derivable, (2) Hedged Performative, (3) Locution Derivable, (4) Want Statement, (5) Suggestory Formula, (6) Query Preparatory, (7) State Preparatory, and (8) Strong Hint.
In contrast to the findings gained through the field observation (natural data), the investigated factors of age, gender, social distance, and relative power proved not to be significantly effective in the choice of offer strategies.
As the findings reveal, the most favorite strategy among the Persian native speakers was Locution Derivable followed by Query Preparatory, Imperatives, State Preparatory and Suggestory Formula, respectively.
In order to give offers of help, the Persian speakers used Query Preparatory as their first favorite strategy followed by State Preparatory and Locution Derivable, and Suggestory Formula almost at the same rate.