Iranian Student's Preferences toward the Use of Euphemism in Persian Measured through Delphi Method Regarding Biological, Socio-Cultural and Educational Variables

The overall objective of this study is to investigate the Iranian student's attitudes toward the use of euphemism in Persian by means of Delphi method regarding biological, socio-cultural and educational variables including: gender, native language, place of birth and academic major. We begin with some definitions and examples of different types of euphemism. Data elicitation procedure was through Delphi method. Two researcher-made questionnaires, an open questionnaire and a closed one were given to 130, male and female university students. The subjects were native speakers of Farsi, Turkish, Lori and Kurdish, majoring in humanities and fundamental sciences. The findings indicated university student's positive attitudes toward the use of Persian euphemism. Furthermore, in some cases the results of the study showed a significant difference among the students with different genders, dialects, places of birth and majors in the use of euphemism.