Effects of Culture and Gender in Comprehension of Speech Acts of Indirect Request

Abstract

This study investigates the comprehension of indirect request speech act used by Iranian people in daily communication. The study is an attempt to find out whether different cultural backgrounds and the gender of the speakers affect the comprehension of the indirect request of speech act. The sample includes thirty males and females in Gachsaran(a city in the province of Kohgiloye va Boyerahmad in Iran) and thirty participants (males and females) in Farokhshahr(a city in the province of Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari in Iran). A questionnaire is used to elicit data related to the responses used by each group. The questionnaire consists of twenty situations. The participants write their reaction to each situation. The results reveal that culture has significant effect on the interpretation of indirect request of speech act. But gender doesn’t affect the comprehension of indirect request of speech act.