Gender Differences in the Expression of Gratitude by Persian Speakers

Abstract

This study tried to investigate the strategies Persian native speakers employ for expressing gratitude in different situations. The current study intended to examine if there was any difference between gratitude strategies used by male and female Persian speakers. To collect the data, 60 participants (30 male and 30 female) were selected from among the population of BA and MA students at Kermanshah Islamic Azad University in Iran. Participants were asked to complete a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) designed by Eisenstein and Bodman (1993). The results revealed that there were significant differences in the ways Persian male and female speakers use the speech act of gratitude. The findings also suggested that female Persian speakers use gratitude strategies more than male speakers.