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A Triangulation Analysis of Persian Honorifics in Pre- and Post-Revolution Iran

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A Triangulation Analysis of Persian Honorifics in Pre- and Post-Revolution Iran A triangulation analysis of Persian Honorifics in pre- and post-revolution Iran Hossein Shokouhi Presented at SS22- The University of Auckland, NZ [email protected] The impetus for this research • My personal observation of long absence from my early childhood life • Persians abroad • Changes in the past 40 years of the religious context of Iran Argument • The honorific system of Persian has become very complex in ranking system. The use of address terms with many honorific titles is rooted in the culture that seems an unalienable part of Persian grammar. • The result of this would be that many Iranians/Persians in the west turn to a combination- putting a different honorific term, not commonly used in Iran. It seems that a similar trend is happening in Iran, but with a slight slope- a shift in honorific use in Persian. • Purpose: Is the use of honorifics basically ‘respect’? • There could also be certain other purposes behind using honorific terms, and this is what this paper is going to address. • Principle: Honorificity in Persian is basically hierarchical, the higher ranks feel good about the titles and ranks, and the lower ranks feel this is the only right way that his voice can be heard. It’s highly reflexive and reciprocal. Limitation • Apart from the lexical honorific terms, there are verb attachments that signify the honorific relations. However, the focus of this paper is not on the verb attachments but on the lexical honorifics. A basic schema of Persian honorifics TU vs SHOMA • Persian like many other Indo-European languages, possesses a system of singular/plural distinction. ‘Tu’ is the singular form and ‘shoma’ is the plural form. • However, this simple and basic distinction is only grammatical. The pragmatic and sociolinguistic use of any of these terms is extremely complex. • When speech context gets complex, an elaborate honorific terms is required; when the interactional organisations involve speakers’ and hearers’ social roles in speech including social status- whether the participants are of equal status, higher- if higher, how much higher, social class, gender, age, education, religiosity, etc. Historical Iran and the current Map An example- KAY/KA- used in parts of the south, the mainstream Persian- KAY/KA being a derivation from King (KAY Ghobad; KAY Khosrow) • When paying respect, the expectation is that the speaker use a title plus a given or a surname. This is a basics of an honorific. • Let’s consider one example for the following context- age, male in a rural context. As a person is aging, he gets recognition by titles. Someone who is approximately in his 60s should be referred to by a title and a given name by his fellow countrymen of the same age and by any person below that age; this can exclude his wife, his parents, or siblings. • If the person being addressed is an educated person, normally a title plus a surname would be the more appropriate honorific term. • While the term in the rural area would be ‘KAY/KA’ in some places and similar respect terms in other areas, the term in the urban areas is different. Historical/Ideological mindset of Iranians about honorifics Ideology Religion Poetic tradition Sophism Honorific as part of Persian grammar Historical/ideological mindset of Iranians’ use of honorifics • Combination of Poetic tradition, sophism, and religion has made respect into a belief. A kind of duality is hidden in using honorific terms, and politeness and respect follow from that. A sharp distinction between religion on the one hand- focusing on appearance- the Persian term ZAHER, and Sophism- on the other- focusing on inner self- the Persian term BATEN. The tension has become more tense after the Iranian revolution. • On the one hand, the religious revolution has tried to replace the older hierarchy of honorific terms with religious ranks and honorifics; on the other, there are academic titles, many of which did not exist before the revolution, and they have tried to find a way into the Persian honorific system. These two have sometimes been competing each other, and it is often the former that takes over. Politeness and respect embedded in the duality symbolised by ZAHER and BATEN in language- honorific terms (Beeman, 1986) Duality ZAHER BATEN (appearance) (inner self) Religion Sophism Language-Poetry Sophism • Sophism in Persian language plays a great role. Moalana, better known as Rumi in the west, the most respected sophist poet believes that a duality exists between body and soul. Body is the inferior being and soul is the superior being. As superior being is the spring that flows materials to the inferior being, it is the inferior being that must be the obedient and submissive to the superior being, hence should be respectful to the soul or the supreme being. • The duality which has long existed in the religious and cultural tradition of the Iranians has structured their thinking towards respect in a conversation exchange. • Even long before Moalana, this tradition of dualism existed in Zoroastrianism- the origin of Iranian religion and philosophy of life. The exchange between the external needs and the internal needs creates ‘zaher’ (appearance) and ‘baten’ (inner self). Zaher should be appealing; this is seen in Iranian life style too. The way people dress, eat and spend extravagantly in front of their guests, their language as well as the way they behave in relation to others are all different forms of keeping the Zaher safe, what is referred to in Persian as ‘hefz-e zaher’. Tension between ZAHER and BATEN and the role of Poetry • Persian language is indebted to its poets. There is an old saying in Persian which comes from one of Ferdowsi’s poems [Ferdowsi being the greatest Persian epic poet]: • ‘ke tondi o tizi nayad be kar, be narmy bar ayad ze sourakh mar’ • [no action will be done with harsh tongue, but with soft tongue even a snake will come out of its hole’]. • Similarly, Sa’di, another great Persian poet writes: • ‘be shirin zabani o lotf o khoshi, tavani ke pili be mooie keshi’ • [with a sweet, favourable and joyful language one can drag an elephant with a hair’.] Post-revolution • KAY/KA has gradually been replaced with three religious titles Mashadi, Karbalai, and Haji, respectively if the person has been to Mashad, to Karbala, or to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The hierarchy is based on socio- economic affordability. So, • Haji would be costly and brings much fame and recognition and respect, • Second after that is karbalai, and • Third at the base stands Mashadi. • After the Iranian revolution many people could afford these pilgrimages, and the tendency gradually grew to become known with one of these honorific titles. Not only respect, recognition, and credit will be obtained but the use of these titles when heard in an unfamiliar speech context would facilitate your job done in a complex bureaucracy of Iran. Religious and academic titles, combined in a new paradigm, has made the honorific system of Persian extremely complex. • So, in the new paradigm, the honorifics are not reduced, despite the religious mottos at the beginning of the revolution (e.g., simplicity of life, contentment, modesty, etc.) but have become more complex. For example, while in the traditional Persian life, people would use AGHAYE followed a surname, but today many would use AGHAYE MOHANDES + the surname (Mr Engineer) or AGHAYE DOKTOR + the surname if the person has done a university degree, as those days there were not many highly educated people. • Since 1978, people have learnt that in the new situation they have had to adopt a system that would comply to the religious condition. The higher the title, the more respect and trust is associated. • The extremely complex new paradigm AeH for Addressee Honorific term ArH for Addressor GN for Given Name • HONORIFIC USE • The AeH term- KA+GN (a title for a grey-beared person) ArH- any age, both genders • • DAIE(+)GN (literally maternal uncle) ArH- any age, both genders • • AMU(+)GN (literally paternal uncle) ArH- any age, both genders • • KHALEH(+)GN (maternal aunt) ArH- any age, both genders • • AMEH(+)GN (paternal aunt) ArH- any age, both genders • • AeGN Ar- age-specified When attributing titles to someone; it is to show that there is a purpose in lifting the addressee’s position The term ‘foagh’ below is Arabic meaning master or super, as in superordinate. It dignifies a person. (e.g., foagh-e lisans= a super graduate, but literally a Masters degree; foagh-e doktora= a super doctorate, literally post-doctorate; foagh-e takhasos= a super specialist physician, litrally sub- specialist) Foagh, Arabic = (above) Foagh-e lisans Foagh-e Doctora Foagh-e takhasos When describing a phenomenon (non- human) • It is interesting that in such a context ‘foagh’ is replaced by ‘pasa’, which is a Persian word, meaning post as in post-structuralism, etc. PASA = POST Pasa-sakhtar geraie (post- structuralism) Pasa-modern (post-modern/ism) Pasa barjam (post nuclear deal) Discussion and conclusion Leech (praising others, and lowering self) van Dijk (language as manipulator) • To use Leech’s (1983) terms praising or maximising others and lowering and minimising oneself. van Dijk (2001) mentions that there must be a covert purpose in praising or lowering as language is used for manipulation. For instance, in Persian interactional context, when you praise others, the hidden message is often putting others in a situation to listen to you, to respect you and to act upon on your desire. The respect terms convey a tone of recognition to the hearer, and the speaker knows that the hearer admires the respect term and values the recognition, hence he feels elevated. • There is a kind of covert insincere flattery that is valued by both parties.
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