en “Knock on the wood honey to protect them from evil-eye:” A sociopragmatic analysis of English and Persian compliment response behavior of Iranian female language learners تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research <table align="left" class="Table" dir="ltr" style="width:614px; border-collapse:collapse; border:none; margin-left:9px; margin-right:9px" width="614"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border-bottom:1px solid black; width:614px; padding:0in 7px 0in 7px; height:244px; border-top:1px solid black; border-right:none; border-left:none" valign="top"> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">Many studies on L1 and/or L2 pragmatic competence are constrained by universalist orientations towards sociopragmatics and overlook the idiosyncratic cultural scripts and schemas of underexplored languages and cultures. Particularly neglected is the complicating role of Iranian cultural schema of a (dis-)belief in the evil eye with regards to the speech act of complimenting (and responding to it); actually, the schema is hypothesized (Talebzadeh & Rajabi, in preparation; Younesi & Talebzadeh, 2022) to pose intricate interactional challenges for both parties due to the possible interpretations of and (non-)verbal responses to compliments (as predominantly Face-Saving Acts versus potentially Face-Threatening Acts). Moreover, still unknown is the way these could confound EFL learners&rsquo; cross-cultural communications. To address these gaps, we present the second phase of a more comprehensive study of compliment response (CR) behaviors of Iranian respondents while checking the adequacy of our proposed model (inspired by Herber&rsquo;s taxonomy). To qualitatively and quantitatively examine the CRs of fifteen proficient Iranian female learners of English, we initially collected the data using two sets of Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT) (in Persian and English) consisting of a variety of situations and variables (e.g., social distance and compliment topics). Then, follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted to tap into the participants&rsquo; (non-)beliefs in the evil eye and its presupposed effects on their compliment exchanges. The findings underscore the adequacy of our modified model and the particularities of Iranian cultural schemas.</span></span></span> <span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">Specifically, being a widespread belief, evil-eye is shown to play a pivotal role in formulating the responses to compliments through the selective application of CR types such </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">as <i>Cheshm-Zadan</i> and <i>Taarof</i> <span style="color:black">in reaction to the compliments given (particularly those on family members or beloved ones) across both languages. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings with reference to the relevant literature and implications for intercultural communication, language education, and sociopragmatic research and practice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"></div> <table align="left" class="Table" dir="ltr" style="width:614px; border-collapse:collapse; border:none; margin-left:9px; margin-right:9px" width="614"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border-bottom:1px solid black; width:614px; padding:0in 7px 0in 7px; height:244px; border-top:1px solid black; border-right:none; border-left:none" valign="top"> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">Many studies on L1 and/or L2 pragmatic competence are constrained by universalist orientations towards sociopragmatics and overlook the idiosyncratic cultural scripts and schemas of underexplored languages and cultures. Particularly neglected is the complicating role of Iranian cultural schema of a (dis-)belief in the evil eye with regards to the speech act of complimenting (and responding to it); actually, the schema is hypothesized (Talebzadeh & Rajabi, in preparation; Younesi & Talebzadeh, 202) to pose intricate interactional challenges for both parties due to the possible interpretations of and (non-)verbal responses to compliments (as predominantly Face-Saving Acts versus potentially Face-Threatening Acts). Moreover, still unknown is the way these could confound EFL learners&rsquo; cross-cultural communications. To address these gaps, we present the second phase of a more comprehensive study of compliment response (CR) behaviors of Iranian respondents while checking the adequacy of our proposed model (inspired by Herber&rsquo;s taxonomy). To qualitatively and quantitatively examine the CRs of fifteen proficient Iranian female learners of English, we initially collected the data using two sets of Discourse Completion Tasks (DCT) (in Persian and English) consisting of a variety of situations and variables (e.g., social distance and compliment topics). Then, follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted to tap into the participants&rsquo; (non-)beliefs in the evil eye and its presupposed effects on their compliment exchanges. The findings underscore the adequacy of our modified model and the particularities of Iranian cultural schemas.</span></span></span> <span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">Specifically, being a widespread belief, evil-eye is shown to play a pivotal role in formulating the responses to compliments through the selective application of CR types such </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">as <i>Cheshm-Zadan</i> and <i>Taarof</i> <span style="color:black">in reaction to the compliments given (particularly those on family members or beloved ones) across both languages. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings with reference to the relevant literature and implications for intercultural communication, language education, and sociopragmatic research and practice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"></span></span></span></span></span></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> compliment speech act, compliment response strategies, evil eye, Herbert`s taxonomy, Sociopragmatics compliment speech act, compliment response strategies, evil eye, Herbert`s taxonomy, Sociopragmatics 127 153 http://ijal.khu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1392-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mozhgan Younesi Mozhgan Younesi Mojgan_younesi@yahoo.com 10031947532846002603 10031947532846002603 No Kharazmi University Kharazmi University Hossein Talebzadeh Hossein Talebzadeh talebzadeh@khu.ac.ir 10031947532846002604 10031947532846002604 Yes Kharazmi University Kharazmi University