Face and Politeness in Action: A Comparative Analysis of Apology and Request Strategies in Persian and Finnish

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD, Department of Linguistics, Central branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Central branch. Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran (Correspondence Author)

3 Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Central branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22075/jlrs.2026.40408.2829

Abstract

This study presents a cross-linguistic comparison of politeness strategies in Persian and Finnish, focusing on the realization of apologies and requests as prototypical face-threatening acts. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory of politeness and face-work, the research examines how speakers of the two languages mitigate interactional threats in everyday communicative contexts, while avoiding broad cultural generalizations. The study adopts an exploratory, qualitative-dominant design. The dataset consists of 40 naturally occurring instances of apologies and requests, including 20 Persian and 20 Finnish examples, collected from informal interactions in public and semi-public settings such as shops, service encounters, and routine urban environments. These contexts allow for spontaneous interaction among speakers from diverse social backgrounds. The data were analyzed using Brown and Levinson’s positive and negative politeness categories as heuristic analytical tools, with careful attention to contextual and interactional factors. Given the scope of the corpus, the analysis is descriptive rather than statistically generalizable. The findings show that Persian speakers tend to employ layered mitigation strategies characterized by indirectness, relational alignment, and ritualized politeness practices, often combining positive and negative politeness resources. In contrast, Finnish speakers display a consistent preference for brevity, structural simplicity, and restrained mitigation, reflecting an orientation toward non-imposition and respect for interlocutors’ autonomy. These patterns are interpreted as pragmatic tendencies observable in the analyzed data rather than as fixed cultural traits. Overall, the study demonstrates that Brown and Levinson’s framework remains analytically useful when applied with methodological caution and appropriately scaled claims.

Keywords

References

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Journal Of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 17, Issue 43
In progress
March 2026
Pages 189-204

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