LANGUAGE OF FLATTERY IN IRANIAN LETTER WRITING DISCOURSE

This article concentrates on using flattery in Iranian discourse from a socio-pragmatic viewpoint. These forms have been studied in personal letters concentrating on the letters written by common people to President Ahmadi Nejad. The chief aim was to explore whether any generalizations can be made on the use of flattery and the factors which influence their use of flattery. The second purpose was to see what features these forms have for the addressee to be clearly identified? Furthermore, the study focused on how well the use of flattery in written material can be explained on the basis of contemporary theoretical views based on the spoken data, such as Brown and Levinson‘s and Comrie‘s politeness axes, and Bell‘s audience design. The aspects studied include the existence of flattery and its level, the relationship between the level of flattery and the writer‘s gender and age. It was concluded that there was a positive relationship between age and flattery but there was no significant relationship between gender and this speech act.