To Be with Salt, To Speak with Taste: Metapragmatics of Playful Speech Practices in Persian Author Arab, Reza Published 2021-02-03 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Hum, Lang & Soc Sc DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/4079 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/402259 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au To Be with Salt, To Speak with Taste: Metapragmatics of Playful Speech Practices in Persian Reza Arab BA, MA School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science Griffith University Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2020 Abstract This investigation is centred around three metapragmatic labels designating valued speech practices in the domain of ‘playful language’ in Persian. These three metapragmatic labels, used by speakers themselves, describe success and failure in use of playful language and construe a person as pleasant to be with. They are hāzerjavāb (lit. ready.response), bāmaze (lit. with.taste), and bānamak (lit. with.salt). Each is surrounded and supported by a cluster of (related) word meanings, which are instrumental in their cultural conceptualisations. The analytical framework is set within the research area known as ethnopragmatics, which is an offspring of Natural Semantics Metalanguage (NSM). With the use of explications and scripts articulated in cross-translatable semantic primes, the metapragmatic labels and the related clusters are examined in meticulous detail. This study demonstrates how ethnopragmatics, its insights on epistemologies backed by corpus pragmatics, can contribute to the metapragmatic studies by enabling a robust analysis using a systematic metalanguage. Chapter 1 establishes the relationship between speakers’ metapragmatic knowledge and the speech practices they perform. ‘Speech practices’ are defined to refer to ‘things people do with words’ in certain contexts due to the native skills and knowledge they have (habitus), which can be grouped by the speakers themselves under a descriptive (metapragmatic) label. These labels can shed light on nonpropositional knowledge of speakers, i.e. on emic (or insider) understandings. Relatedly, rather than conducting the research under the banner of the linguistics of humour (in a broad sense) in Persian, the general category of playful language is preferred, as a significant definitional improvement. ‘Playful language’ has its own conventions which are different from the conventions of ‘normal’ interactions, and this depends on the participants recognising the intention behind the play. Besides, the cultural significance of ‘playful language’ in Persian is emphasised with a review of the concept of bāzi (play) and other historical and modern linguistic and non-linguistic evidence. Chapter 2 studies hazer javābi, Chapter 3 bāmaze , and Chapter 4 bānamak, respectively. Hāzerjavābi shows that there is a perception in a conversational setting that a speaker has satisfied the expectation of providing a response in a shorter than expected span of time ii t. While it is often not faster than normal talk, the verbal content that has been produced in time t is deemed (by observers) to be of a higher verbal/mental quality than the one that other, ‘normal’ speakers produce in time t. This can be interpreted as being bāmaze or bānamak. In Chapter 3, I propose a metalexical test to explore issues of polysemy and [active] metaphor in relation to maze (taste) and namak (salt). The examination indicates that the intentional aspect of the speech practices, as well as the necessary recognition of the intention by others present, are major components of perception of ‘having maze’. The recognition is confirmed with laughter. The ethno-epistemology of maze, via channelling the active metaphor of good maze (gastronomical taste), is illustrated in a mental script to the effect that people “want more” to hear or to be with that person. Chapter 4 presents a corpus-informed examination of namak and its cultural conceptualisation in Persian. This situates the concept of namak (salt) in the centre of Persian hospitality, sociability, and mutuality, within the Persian cultural schema of adab (roughly, politeness). The explication of the concept reveals that its conceptualisation hinges on the components ‘this is good, I want more’, which is the active metaphor component behind sharing namak with others. In addition, failed humour and dispreferred speech practices in the context of playful language are expressed using labels such as bimaze (lit. without.taste) and binamak (lit. without salt), as well as maze-rixtan (lit. taste.pouring), namak-rixtan (lit. salt.pouring), bāmaze.bāzi.dar-āvordan (lit. with.taste.play.out-bring), etc. iii Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Reza Arab 01/09/2020 iv To my parents: Moosa and Marzieh, who always wanted me to become a doctor, and I thought they meant a Doctor of Philosophy! v Acknowledgment I will write the main part of the acknowledgments, where I actually acknowledge others for their invaluable help, in the last part of this section. Before doing that, I would like to acknowledge the (not common) journey that I have taken to reach my dream to complete a PhD. I wanted to do a PhD since I was a high school student. I used to think it would open to me the doors to wisdom, or once all doors to wisdom are open, then I am ready to complete a PhD. Initially I wanted to do a PhD only in philosophy as it was, in my young opinion, the only real doctorate in philosophy. I was a voracious reader of philosophy after all. While I was doing my bachelor’s degree in English language and literature at the University of Mazandaran, Iran, I came across philosophers of language, especially Wittgenstein and Austin. That was perhaps the most lasting encounter in my life. Over a night I ‘altered’ my dream to doing a graduate degree in linguistics and if possible, a PhD afterwards. Too much readings of Western philosophy had made me too aware of the conditions of life in my country, Iran, under the theocracy of the Islamic regime. It was a few months after the commencement of my undergraduate degree that I found myself a student activist. The university had been deserted from activists after a sweeping crackdown on universities in 2006. So my friends and I created a liberal group of students for democracy. In a matter of few months I became the head of the political students council at our university. I sincerely did anything I could during my tenure in that (illegal) student council to spread knowledge, improve human rights, and help our transition to democracy. For that, I was detained a couple of times, tortured and constantly threatened between 2006 and 2011 as well as having gotten suspended or sentenced to disciplinary actions by the university management. When I finally completed my bachelor’s degree and I went back to fulfilling my personal dream – i.e. an MA in linguistics, I soon learned that I had been banned from education in any universities in Iran. Based on credible sources, I got an outstanding result in the national 2012 MA exam in linguistics. Nevertheless, I was not issued an exam vi report since I lacked ‘general qualification’, which was a euphemism for ‘being actively against the regime’. I was coping with my failed dream for a couple of years. I taught at private schools, wrote for magazines or websites, and even co-edited a local weekly. I even did an online master’s degree at the American Graduate School in Paris in International economics and social sciences. The whole program had been designed for students around the world who were unjustly deprived of their rights to education. It was a great program, but it was not about (philosophy and) linguistics, my dream. But it gave me courage and determination to apply for a master’s degree somewhere else. I applied and got admission to a couple of universities including the SALAM program as part of Erasmus initiative by the European Commission to do a master’s degree at the University of Warsaw, Poland. The good news of getting this scholarship lasted only 24 hours. I was summoned to the ministry of intelligence because they had learnt I was contacting foreign universities. In less than 24 hours after great news, I was about to get arrested again. Therefore, I fled to Turkey overnight in the summer of 2014 with a small luggage and the total wealth of my family, i.e. $700. I was hosted by generous friends, Milad and Shadi, in Denizli, Turkey. Polish embassy was also generous to reconsider their first advice and finally grant me a visa. All that gave me a fresh start at the University of Warsaw doing an MA in English Studies with concentration on linguistics with the EU's generous scholarship. When completed, I applied for a PhD in linguistics at Griffith University in 2016. I was awarded another generous scholarship, so my wife and I moved to Australia. Now with submitting this thesis, I can say that I have fulfilled my dream. A dream that formed in my mind in 2000 was fulfilled in 2020. It has truly opened many doors to knowledge and experience. The story of my life, which I told a part here, has taught me a lot and I am proud of it. In fulfilling this dream, I am indebted to Western democracies and institutions. It is easy to take their positive contributions to the human condition for granted.