Request Strategies Used by Persian Couples in Two Different Settings

Performing the request speech act which has a significant position in daily conversations and interactions, needs sufficient knowledge of the request strategies. In order to have a meaningful and purposeful communication, the speaker should know about some factors, such as social power, social distance, and imposition. This study aimed at examining Iranian couples’ use of request strategies in their interactions in private mode and public mode. To achieve this goal, 30 couples were selected and their conversations with each other in the two settings were recorded. Then, to complement the gathered data, a discourse completion test (DCT) was distributed among the couples in order to elicit their answers regarding which request strategies they usually use in any situation. The data were then coded based on the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) model and frequencies and percentages of the strategies used by the couples in the two settings were calculated. The results of the study revealed that Persian couples perform direct request strategies more than other types of request strategies in their loneliness. Moreover, it was indicated that Persian couples use conventional indirect requests in the presence of others. The results of the current study suggest that presence of others can influence couples’ choice of request strategies in their conversation with their spouses. The implications of this study may be useful for language teachers, syllabus designers, and curriculum developers.

Keywords:

speech acts , request strategies , Pragmatic competence , Persian Couples , Couple interactions