Exploring the Cultural Variables in the Communications between the Iranian and the French Based on Language Patterns

Nowadays, language is not only considered as the most important communication tool, but also it is known as the central core of culture and what forms it. The relationship between language and culture and their mutual effects on making contact between language users and different cultures are of great importance and have attracted the attention of many researchers. Regarding the significant, fundamental role of culture in having intercultural communication and focusing on the mutual relationship between language and culture in the communication of the Iranian and the French, the current research tries to find the answer to this basic question whether perceiving the cultural differences guaranty making successful intercultural contacts or not. The research overall hypothesis states that lack of awareness or insufficient awareness of these differences in communications may result in misunderstanding and even miscommunication. To answer the research question, first, the relationship between language and culture and then the transmission of culture through language will be expressed and explained. Accordingly, various theoretical frameworks, including Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, will be taken into consideration. The basic theoretical framework of this research is Austin’s speech act theory; thus, the introduction to this theory would be a part of this research. To illustrate the fundamental role of knowing and realizing the cultural components in making effective contacts, we will investigate and analyze one of the most influential cultural variables in intercultural communication that is the verbal interaction in both Persian and French cultures, with focus on Austin’s speech act theory. Based on this theoretical framework, we consider speech act as the verbal communication unit and will explore some samples of common and prevalent speech acts in the verbal interaction between Iranian and French. Mostly, these linguistic forms have the oral and verbal aspects and arise from individuals’ cultural and social communication. Exploring each of these speech acts, we will try to show the incentives and methods to use them as well as their differences in both the verbal environments of Persian and French and; therefore, we will study the semantic, practical, and cultural aspects of the selected samples.
The results of this research showed the necessity of paying attention to the cultural differences in making effective contacts and preventing «miscommunication». Familiarity with the differences and similarities between speech acts in Persian and French languages will help the language users make successful contacts and prevent many misunderstandings and misinterpretations, while having contact with different cultures.