“Bebaxshid poshtam be shomÄs†(excuse me, I’ m sitting in front of you): Towards Identification of Apologies with Phatic Function in Persian Texts

Abstract

The diversity of languages and the variation in cultures throughout the world make the process of second language learning and intercultural communication difficult. Apologies as inseparable parts of Iranian’s interpersonal relationship create ambiguities for the parties as they are extended with different functions. Interpretation of these elements gets more troublesome when they are used with phatic function owing to the fact that unlike ordinary apologies, they are used when no offence has occurred and by extending them the interlocutors solely intend to open, prolong or end a conversation. Despite their importance, these types of apology have been neglected by the previous Persian speech act studies. Thus in this paper we aim at identifying apologies which have phatic function in a number of Iranian movies. Therefore we initially realize the forms (strategies) of the apologies and also find the indicators of phatic functions which distinguish them from ordinary apologies.