Beggars are a group of people for whom making a successful speech is of paramount importance. Therefore, social and linguistic analysis of their speech seems to be a new and much needed line of inquiry that has not yet been elucidated. To this end, relying on Labov’s model of personal narrative, the present article is an attempt to examine linguistically how some beggars manage to publicly beg in mosques in Iran. Five stories told by different needy male speakers were transcribed and translated into English. Using Positioning Theory as a heuristic tool, the study also lends insights into how the beggars shape the formulation of the relations between self and others while recounting their specific experiences. In fact, the study indicated that the participants took advantage of narrative as a powerful cultural discourse through which they denied their identity while assuming and negotiating different positions.
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