UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA Departamento de Filología Inglesa I (Lengua y Lingüística Inglesa) TESIS DOCTORAL A cross-cultural socio-pragmatic study of invitations in Palestinian arabic and American english MEMORIA PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE DOCTOR PRESENTADA POR Mahmood K.M. Eshreteh Directores Mariann Ellen Larsen Pehrzon Adil Moustaoui Sghir Madrid, 2014 © Mahmood K.M. Eshreteh, 2014 UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA Departamento de Filología Inglesa I (Lengua y Lingüistica Inglesa) A CROSS-CULTURAL SOCIO-PRAGMATIC STUDY OF INVITATIONS IN PALESTINIAN ARABIC AND AMERICAN ENGLISH MEMORIA PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE DOCTOR PRESENTADA POR Mahmood K. M. Eshreteh Bajo la dirección de los Doctores Dra. Mariann Ellen Larsen Pehrzon Dr. Adil Moustaoui Sghir Madrid, 2013 Facultad de Filología Departamento de Filología Inglesa I TESIS DOCTORAL A Cross-Cultural Socio-Pragmatic Study of Invitations in Palestinian Arabic and American English Memoria para optar al grado de doctor presentada por Mahmood K. M. Eshreteh Bajo la dirección de los Doctores Dra. Mariann Ellen Larsen Pehrzon Dr. Adil Moustaoui Sghir Madrid, 2013 I DEDICATION To my wife and my children Who have offered me all possible support throughout my study. II Table of Contents Contents Page DEDICATION II Table of Contents III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT X Transliteration Key XI List of Abbreviations and Acronyms XII List of Tables XIII List of Figures and Diagrams XIV List of Charts XIV RESUMEN EN ESPAÑOL XV Abstract (English) XXII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background to the study 1 1.2. The aims of the study 4 1.3. Significance of the study 5 1.4. Scope of this study 7 1.5. The organization of the study 8 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.0 Preliminaries 12 2.1. Early Approaches to the Study of Language 14 2.2. Communicative competence (The Birth of sociolinguistics) 16 2.3. Context 20 2.4. Pragmatics 23 2.4.1. Pragmatic competence 26 2.5. Teaching Pragmatics to EFL Learners 27 2.5.1. Pragmatic Transfer 27 2.5.2. Pragmatic Failure 28 2.5.2.1. Definitions of Pragmatic Failure 28 2.5.2.2. Classifications of Pragmatic Failure 29 2.5.2.2.1. Pragmalinguistic Failure 29 2.5.2.2.2. Sociopragmatic Failure 31 III 2.10.2.3. He Ziran’s Classification 32 2.6. Conclusion 34 CHAPTER THREE: SPEECH ACTS 3.0. Introduction 35 3.1. Definitions of speech acts 35 3.2. Speech Act Theory 39 3.3. Classification of speech acts 42 3.4. Speech Acts and Felicity Conditions 46 3.5. Macro and Micro speech acts 47 3.6. Indirect Speech Acts 51 3.7. Speech acts and the Cooperative Principle (CP) 58 3.8. Universality versus Culture-Specificity of Speech Acts 62 3.9. A critique of the Speech Act Theory 63 3.10. Speech Act Research 66 CHAPTER FOUR: THE NOTION OF FACE (A CROSS-CULTURAL INVESTIGATION) 4.0. Introduction 69 4.1. Background 70 4.2. Discussions on the definitions of the term face 70 4.3. The Concept of Face across Cultures 75 4.3.1. The concept of face in Palestinian culture 79 4.3.1.1. Face upgrading/honoring expressions 81 4.3.1.2. Face demeaning/threatening expressions 83 4.3.2. The concept of face in American culture 85 4.4. The concept of ‘loss of face’ 86 4.4.1. Acts that cause loss of face 86 4.5. Conclusion 88 CHAPTER FIVE: POLITENESS 5.0. Introduction 90 5.1. Discussions of Definitions of Politeness 91 5.2. Types of Politeness 93 5.2.1. First-order politeness 93 IV 5.2.2. Second-order politeness 94 5.3. Theories of Politeness 95 5.3.1. Politeness as Tact 95 5.3.2. The Social-Norm View of Politeness 96 5.3.3. The Conversational-Contract View of Politeness 96 5.3.4. The Conversational-Maxim View 97 5.3.4.1. Politeness as Rapport 97 5.3.4.2. Politeness as Comity 99 5.3.5. The Face-View of Politeness 103 5.3.5.1. Politeness as Face by Goffman 103 5.3.5.2. Politeness as Face (Brown and Levinson, 1987) 104 5.3.6. Rapport -Management View 108 5.3.7. Scollon and Scollon’s Model of Politeness 109 5.3.8. Communication Accommodation Theory and Politeness 110 5.4. Critique of Traditional Theories of Politeness 112 5.5. Politeness and Indirectness 116 5.6. Linguistic Choice by Indirectness and Politeness 117 5.7. Why is Politeness Interesting? 118 5.8. Non-Verbal Communication VS. Politeness 120 5.9. Universality versus culture-specificity of Politeness 124 5.9.1. Politeness in Palestinian Arabic 129 5.9.2. Politeness in American English 131 5.10. Social Variables Affecting Politeness 132 5.10.1. Power 133 5.10.2. Social distance 133 5.10.3 Gender 135 5.10.4. Age 136 5.11. Conclusion 137 CHAPTER SIX: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 6.0. Introduction 139 6.1. Methods of data elicitation on speech acts 139 6.2. Ethnography of communication 145 V 6.3. Methods used in the present study 147 6.4. The questionnaire 148 6.4.1 Description of the questionnaires 149 6.4.2. The characteristics of the subjects 151 6.4.2.1. The first group of subjects 151 6.4.2.2. The second group of subjects 152 6.5. Sample 152 6.6. Data analysis 153 CHAPTER SEVEN: INVITATIONS 7.0. Introduction 156 7.1. The speech act of inviting: Discussions of Definitions 156 7.2. Classifications and felicity conditions of the speech act of 158 inviting 7.3. Invitations VS Requests 162 7.4. Types of invitations 164 7.4.1. Written and Spoken Invitations 164 7.4.2. Ambiguous Vs. Unambiguous Invitations 165 7.5. Invitations as Communicative Practices 167 7.5.1. Reasons for making invitations 167 7.5.2. Problems with Invitations 168 7.5.3. Refusal to invitations: a face - threatening act 169 7.5.4. Hedges in Declining Invitations 171 7.6. Studies on Invitation 173 7.6.1. Studies on Invitation in Different Languages 174 7.6.2. Studies in English 178 7.6.2.1. Intra-lingual Studies in English 178 7.6.2.2. Cross-Cultural studies in English 182 7.6.3. Studies in Arabic 187 7.7. Conclusion 191 CHAPTER EIGHT: STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS OF INVITATIONS IN AMERICAN ENGLISH (AE) AND PALESTINIAN ARABIC (PA) 8.0. Introduction 193 VI 8.1. The structure of invitations 194 8.1.1. Analysis of invitations in AE 194 8.1.2. Functional implications of invitations in AE 198 8.1.3. Analysis of invitations in PA 204 8.1.4. Functional implications of invitations in PA 208 8.2. Invitations and Hospitality/Sociability 215 8.3. Non-verbal Communicative Aspects of Invitations 220 8.4. Communication Style in PA and AE 228 8.5. Conclusion 230 CHAPTER NINE: INVITATIONS AND DIRECTNESS IN AE AND PA 9.0. Introduction 233 9.1. Linguistic aspects of invitations 234 9.2. The preference of strategy use between groups: overall results 234 9.3. Preference for and use of politeness strategies in relation 23 6 to social status, age and gender 9.3.1. Social status and age 237 9.3.2. Social status and gender 242 9.3.3. Age and gender 248 9.3.4. The impact of social distance in relation to sex, age and social 253 status on invitation making 9.4. Conclusion: The findings of the chapter 254 CHAPTER TEN: INVITATIONS AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN PA AND AE 10.0. Introduction 260 10.1. Strategies of Doing FTA’s 261 10.2. Invitations and Politeness in PA and AE (General 263 Observations) 10.2.1. Scenarios triggering negative politeness 264 10.2.2. Scenarios triggering Positive politeness 265 10.3. Discussion of Invitations and Politeness Strategies in PA 267 10.3.1. Positive Politeness (PP) in PA 272 10.3.2. Negative Politeness (NP) in PA 277 VII 10.3.3. Bald-on-record (BOR) in PA 280 10.3.4. Off-record (OR) In PA 282 10.4. Discussion of Invitations and Politeness Strategies in AE 283 10.4.1. Positive Politeness (PP) in AE 284 10.4.2. Negative Politeness (NP) in AE 286 10.4.3. Bald-on-record (BOR) in AE 290 10.4.4. Off-record (OR) in AE 291 10.5. Conclusion 291 CHAPTER ELEVEN: RESPONSES TO INVITATIONS IN AE AND PA 11.0. Introduction 294 11.1. Accepting an invitation 295 11.1.1. Accepting invitations in PA 295 11.1.2. Accepting invitations in AE 298 11.2. Invitation-refusal 302 11.2.1. Invitation refusal in PA 303 11.2.2. Invitation refusal in AE 308 11.2.3. Conclusion 311 11.3. Insistence: and its importance 312 11.3.1 Definitions 313 11.3.2. Appropriateness of insisting 314 11.3.3. Insistence in the present study 316 11.3.4. Final remarks on Insistence 322 11.4. Ritual Refusals 322 11.5. Conclusion 325 CHAPTER TWELVE: FINDINGS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 12.0. Findings 327 12.1. Observations from Brown & Levinson’s (1987) Model 330 12.1.1. Religious Expressions 333 12.1.2. The Dynamic Nature of P, SD & R 333 12.1.3. Comments on Brown & Levinson’s (1987) 334 Don’t-do-the FTA VIII 12.1.4. tfaDDal(i): Is it an inherently polite or a formulaic 335 expression? 12.1.5. Are Invitations Face Threatening or Inherently Polite? 336 12.1.6. Ideology of connectedness or separatedness 339 12.2.