Investigating Language and Gender in Kuwait Algharabali, Nada
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Two cultures, one room: investigating language and gender in Kuwait Algharabali, Nada The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1314 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] Two cultures, one room: Investigating language and gender in Kuwait Nada Algharabali Queen Mary, University of London July 2010 ! "! ABSTRACT Kuwait is a gender-segregated country. Its conservative cultural ideology is evident in all areas of social life, including the way people communicate. Men and women have to make conscious language choices during everyday interaction. Certain aspects of Kuwaiti conversational registers are exclusive to either men or women, which reflects not only men’s and women’s separate socialization as children but also separate lifestyles as adults. Kuwait’s gendered context is therefore bound to be unique and of particular sociolinguistic interest, especially since mainstream language and gender literature has more often focused on English-speaking cultures. Thus, there is little knowledge of Arab gender-segregated cultures and this could possibly be due to complications that the researcher inevitably encounters when examining a sensitive issue such as gender within these constraints. The present research study investigates mixed interaction between Kuwaiti men and women in online chat rooms. In this particular online context, chat room users employ interactional strategies to negotiate the norms of heterosexual interaction which are often non-existent in offline Kuwaiti society. A combined framework of sociolinguistic, ethnographic methods is adopted to examine chat room interactional choices that enable men and women to construct gendered chat room identities as well as create a virtual online community of practice without undermining offline gender norms. ! #! TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures, tables and cartoons......................................................................................6 Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................8 Key to transcription conventions ........................................................................................9 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………..................................10 Research goals.......................................................................................................11 Structure of the Thesis...........................................................................................13 CHAPTER 1 – BACKGROUND OF KUWAIT.........................................................................17 1.1 The socio-cultural background of Kuwait.............…………………………..17 1.2 A view of language and gender in Kuwait.............………………………….23 CHAPTER 2 – DISCOURSE AND GENDER……………………………...............................31 2.0 Introduction.....................................................................................................31 2.1 Discourse and discourses................................................................................32 2.2 Analytical approaches to discourse.................................................................36 2.2.1 Ethnography of communication.......................................................37 2.2.2 Interactional sociolinguistics............................................................40 2.2.3 Communities of practice...................................................................43 2.2.4 Critical discourse analysis.................................................................47 2.3 Summary..........................................................................................................49 2.4 Language and gender.......................................................................................50 2.4.1 Theories of language and gender......................................................51 2.4.1.1 Gender deficit and dominance...........................................51 2.4.1.2 Gender difference..............................................................55 2.4.1.3 Beyond binary: gender as performance.............................59 2.4.2 Situating language and gender..........................................................61 2.4.2.1 Gendered communities of practice....................................61 2.4.2.2 Gendered discourse in context...........................................63 2.5 Summary..........................................................................................................68 2.6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................69 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY...............……………………………...............................70 3.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………..............70 3.1 What is a chat room.........................................................................................71 ! $! 3.1.1 Kuwaiti chat rooms……………………………...............................72 3.1.2 Chat room dynamics………………………………………….........73 3.1.3 Chat room terminology……………………………………….........74 3.1.4 Chat room rules……………………………………………….........77 3.2 Multiple research methods…………………………………………...............78 3.2.1 Participant-observation……………………………………….........78 3.2.2 Data collection………………………………………………..........79 3.2.3 Data discourse analysis……………………………………….........81 3.3 Interviews…………………………………………………………................82 3.3.1 Pilot interviews……………………………………………….........82 3.3.2 Offline interviews…………………………………………….......84 3.3.3 Interview design……………………………………………............85 3.3.4 Interview locale……...………………………………………..........87 3.4 A quantitative angle.........................................................................................88 3.4.1 Nickname experiment…….………………………………..............90 3.5 Methodological and cultural issues…………………………………..............92 3.6 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...............94 CHAPTER 4 – ONLINE INTERACTIONAL STRATEGIES..……...……….............................95 4.0 Introduction………………………………………………………..................95 4.1 Formulaic expressions in greetings, leave-takings and endearments..............96 4.2 Greeting (and leave-takings)......…………………………………..................97 4.2.1 Identifying greetings……………………………………….............97 4.2.2 Greetings and leave-takings in Kuwait (offline).…..………..........100 4.2.3 Chat room greetings...……………………………………….........104 4.2.4 Chat room leave-takings…………………………………….........123 4.3 Endearments………………………………………………………...............126 4.3.1 Endearments in Kuwait……………………………………….......126 4.3.2 Chat room endearments.…………………………………….........127 4.4 Conclusion.…………………………………………………………............140 CHAPTER 5 – THE ROLE OF HUMOUR IN CHAT ROOMS.……………...........................142 5.0 Introduction………………………………………………………................142 5.1 About humour……………………………………………………................143 5.2 Chat room humour……………………………………………….................146 5.2.1 Teasing mockery…………………………………………….........147 5.2.2 Adversarial mockery………………………………………….......164 5.2.3 Attack sarcasm………………………………………………........177 5.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………….................184 ! 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CHAPTER 6 – EXPLORING CHAT ROOM NICKNAMES: GENDERED IDENTITIES............189 6.0 Introduction………………………………………………………................189 6.1 A typology of nicknames………………..…………………………............196 6.2 Nickname popularity and “legibility”..………………..................................202 6.3 Testing nicknames………………………………………………….............214 6.4 Nicknames and power: what’s in a nickname………………………............219 6.5 Nickname perspectives………………………………………......................222 6.6 Conclusion.....................................................................................................227 CHAPTER 7 – DISCUSSION: TWO CULTURES, ONE ROOM.…..………..........................229 7.0 Introduction………………………………………………….......................229 7.1 Learning how to interact in a community of practice...................................230 7.1.1 Criticisms versus compliments……………………………..........230 7.1.1.1 ‘Are you flattering me or flirting with me?’…………...231 7.1.1.2 Where is the humour in sarcasm?……………………...236 7.1.2 Face work: greetings, leave-takings and endearments……...........240 7.2 The sociolinguistics of heterosexual identity: aspects of chat room culture.245 7.2.1 Performing gender in chat rooms……………...............................245 7.2.2 Chat room identities…………...…...........…………….................249 7.2.3 Online-offline cultural complexity………………………….........256 7.3 Penetrating and transcending the chat room…………………......................261 7.4 Social change and public image……………............………………............267 7.5 Conclusion……………...………………………………..............................272 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………...........273 Limitations and further research.........................................................................277 LIST OF REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..280 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………….....298 Appendix A…………………………………………………………………......298 Appendix B………………………………………………………………..........299 Appendix C………………………………………………………………..........300 Appendix D……………………………………………………………..............302