Language, Status, and Power in Iran: (Advances in Semiotics)

" . . . excellent example . . . significant contribution . . . an important interdisciplinary work . . . " —Middle East Journal " . . . an important contribution to aspects of Iranian social communication and interpersonal verbal behavior." —Language By showing the reader the intricacies of face-to-face sociolinguistic interaction, William Beeman provides a key to understanding Iranian social and political life. Beeman's study in cross-cultural linguistics will clearly be a model for the study of different languages and cultures.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSPCRIPTION I. INTRODUCTION: THE ARCHITECTURE OF IRANIAN VERBAL INTERACTION Meaning in Linguistics and Anthropology Deixis and the Interpretaition of Meaning Appropriateness and Effectiveness Iranian Basic Schemas Style in Cultural Communication Iranian Interaction Semantics Language and Magic II. The Management of Messages Components of Speech Uncertainty and Insecurity in Iranian Life The Clever Dissimulator Whom Do You Trust? The Changing Ethic of Message Management III. The Mangagement of Interactional Parameters: People Perception, Attention, and Status in Interpersonal Interaction Dimensions of Exchange in Iranian Interaction Relations of Equality: Dowreh and Partibazi Relations of Inequality-Hierarchy and Ta'arof The Strategic Huse of Ta'arof-Getting the Lower Hand Partibazi and Ta'arof: Some Final Comparisons IV. The Marking of Parameters: Events The Problem of Context Dimensions of Iranian Contextualization The Iranian Basic Schema Transformations of the Basic Schema V. Persian Socio-Phonology The Persian Phonemic System: Standard Style Stylistic Differences in Standard Persian Stylistic Variation-The Consonantal System Implicational Scaling in Stylistic Variation Sound Variation in Social Context Redundancy and Sound Reduction in Persian Reducdancy in Interaction in Sound Reduction Sylistic Variation The Vowel System Arabic versus Persian Systemic Proceses and Stylistic Variation-A Summary VI. Persian Socio-Morphology Morphological Variation The Elements of the Persian Ver: A conventional description The Pronoun System Sylistic Requirements within the Morphological Systems The Language of Ta'arof The Singular/Plural Distinction as an Indicator of Status Meaning and the Language of Ta'arof A Note on Superior-Inferior Address The Language of Samimiat The Language of Zerangi Conclusion VII. The SOcio-Syntax of Iranian Interaction Purposive Use of Stylistic Variation A Problem in Operational Function: The Use of the Imparative of Farmudan Other Commmunicational Operators Pattern Configuration VIII. Conclusion: The Aesthetics of Iranian Verbal Interaction Speaker Skills-A Review The Bases of Aesthetics in Interaction Notes on the Aesthetics of Irania Humor The Aesthetics of Revolutionary Rhetoric Language and Magic-A Final Note Bibliography Notes Index