Comparison between ‘Honorification’ in Islamic and Zoroastrian Texts

Honorifics are social deixis which serve as signs of respect and politeness for references to certain noun phrases in order to show dignity of addressee(s). The purpose of this study is to compare the use of honorific terms and phrases in the two religions of Islam and Zoroastrianism. The data were collected from written and oral religious texts which were then examined and compared to each other in terms of structures, meanings and pragmatic use. The findings are as follows: In the two religions, honorifics appear both before and after the nominal; however, Islamic honorifics are longer in structures and more various in types, while in Zoroastrian they appear before the head. In both corpora in addition to religious figures, honorific terms were used for the places, objects and phenomena related to religion. In addition to unmarked honorifics, the corpus of the two religions contained marked honorifics which appear with some certain names. Both religions contain prohibited verbal and non-verbal behaviors (taboo) such as silence which can be referred to as a common feature in the two ceremonies. Finally, both religions contain items opposite to the honorifics with the meaning of hatred and disgust. Along with the similarities mentioned above, the significant difference between the two corpora is that the use of honorifics in Islam is motivated by a kind of religious duty known as ‘amity’ and ‘animosity’.