To Be with Salt, To Speak with Taste: Metapragmatics of Playful Speech Practices in Persian

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 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.