Requests and Responses to Requests in Jordanian Arabic
Politeness has been extensively studied in English and its native speaking communities. However, there is a dearth of literature that explores politeness in Arabic. Existing studies often make general claims about politeness in Arabic without testing these claims empirically. For instance, Ferguson (1976) claims that Arabic has a set of politeness principles that govern its speakers’ interactions, such as the ‘same or more so’ principle used to intensify expressions of politeness. Further, Nydell (2018) claims that ‘Arabs’ tend to avoid direct refusals, in which responding with ‘yes’ does not necessitate commitment in action. Prior studies on Arabic view Arabic speakers as belonging to one homogenous group, disregarding the linguistic variations and attitudes within Arabic-speaking communities. Further, within the context of Arabic, there is very little research on politeness, particularly in Jordanian Arabic. To address the gaps in the literature, this research aims to investigate how speakers of Jordanian Arabic make and respond to requests. This research targets Jordanian Arabic expats living in London, UK, who are surrounded by different dialects, linguistic ideologies, and cultural norms that influence their pragmatic choices. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining discourse completion tasks (DCTs) and interviews to glean insight into participants’ perceptions of politeness and their interpretations of interactions. As advocated by contemporary approaches to politeness, this study involves participants in the study design, in which participants formulate scenarios that align with their backgrounds and experiences. Participants are asked to reflect on their attitudes and the linguistic choices provided in the DCT, rather than using pre-established frameworks to fit their discourse. This proposed research discusses previous literature on politeness in Arabic, identifies research gaps, discusses the rationale behind the use of data collection methods, and presents preliminary findings from the ongoing study.
References
Ferguson, C. A. (1976). The structure and use of politeness formulas. Language in society, 5(2), 137-151.
Nydell, M. K. (2018). Understanding Arabs: A guide for modern times. Hachette UK.