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Resumo

This interpretive analysis of Farsi and English language use among first‐generation Iranian immigrants and exiles in the United States examines the relationship between language use and second culture acquisition. Based on samples of language data collected during fieldwork among Iranian professionals and high school students, the analysis focuses on the symbolic role of language in the cross‐culture acquisition process. It suggests that although language played a role in cultural identity maintenance and in the expression of Iranian attitudes toward American culture, its most important function was to facilitate the acquisition of an intercultural frame of reference in which the meanings and values associated with particular American cultural domains could be incorporated within the Iranian worldview. By moving away from simple dichotomous or linear models of the relationship between language and acculturation to consider how language functions to mediate cultural perspectives, the discussion attempts to provide insights into second culture acquisition process.

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