Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 32:2 (2022) ► pp.159–190

Invoking divine blessing

The pragmatics of the congratulation speech act in university graduation notebooks in Jordan

ORCID logo | Jordan University of Science and Technology
| Jordan University of Science and Technology
| Jordan University of Science and Technology

This study explores the speech act of congratulation in university graduation notebooks, a new communicative context in Jordan. Using the concept of the pragmeme as a situated speech act, a total of 1064 congratulatory messages, found in 35 notebooks, were analyzed. The analysis demonstrated that the cultural concept of baraka ‘blessing’ plays a central role in the Arabic congratulation speech act. Embedded in its production are other speech acts such as compliments and advice, sociocultural beliefs and concepts such as fatalism and collectivism, and sociocultural practices such as naqout ‘money given as a gift’. Invoking these values and beliefs when performing congratulations was accomplished through ritualistic religious invocations, formulaic expressions, reference to collective identity, and acts of material support, showing how this Arabic speech act is situated in sociocultural beliefs and values.

Keywords: congratulations, speech acts, pragmemes, collectivism, fatalism, blessing
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research overview
  • 3.Arab culture
  • 4.Theoretical background
  • 5.Data and methodology
    • 5.1Data
    • 5.2Methodology
  • 6.Analysis
    • 6.1Opening
    • 6.2The body
      • 6.2.1Expressing well wishes
      • 6.2.2Complimenting
      • 6.2.3Banter
      • 6.2.4Evoking shared experiences
      • 6.2.5Expressing validation
      • 6.2.6Using expressions of encouragement
      • 6.2.7Expression of happiness
      • 6.2.8Using self-directed well wishes
      • 6.2.9Attaching a ‘gift’
    • 6.3Closing formulae
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20034.bad
References
Abdel-Jawad, Hassan
2000 “A Linguistic, Sociopragmatic and Cultural Study of Swearing in Arabic.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 131: 217–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Allan, Keith, Alessandro Capone, and Istvan Kecskes
(eds.) 2016 Pragmemes and Theories of Language Use. Cham: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bach, Kent, and Robert Harnish
1979 Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bietti, Lucas
2010 “Sharing Memories, Family Conversation and Interaction.” Discourse & Society 211: 499–523. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson
1987 Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cantini, Daniele
2016 Youth and Education in the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capone, Alessandro
2005 “Pragmemes.” Journal of Pragmatics 371: 1355–1371. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 “Introduction.”. Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2861–2869. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “Introducing the Notion of Pragmeme.” In Pragmemes and Theories of Language Use, xv–xxiv. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
2018 “Pragmemes (Again).” Lingua 2091: 89–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Celaya, M. Luz, Laura Panelli, and Júlia Barón
2019 “ ‘I’m Jealous but I Am Very Happy’: Congratulating in an EFL Context.” In Cross-Linguistic Influence, ed. by M. Juncal Gutierrez-Mangado, María Martínez-Adrián, and Francisco Gallardo-del-Puerto, 149–167. Cham: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Claridge, Claudia
2010 Hyperbole in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colin, Georges
1986 “Baraka.” In Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. by H. A. R. Gibb, J. H. Kramers, E. Lèvi-Provençal and J. Schacht, 10321. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Culpeper, Jonathan
1996 “Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness.” Journal of Pragmatics 251: 349–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Darwish, Abdel-Fattah, and Günter Huber
2003 “Individualism vs. Collectivism in Different Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Study.” Intercultural Education 141: 47–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Decapua, Andrea, and Joan Dunham
2007 “The Pragmatics of Advice Giving: Cross-Cultural Perspectives.” Intercultural Pragmatics 41: 319–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
El-Aswad, El-Sayed
2014 “Metaphors Arab Women Live By.” Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World 121: 36–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elwood, Kate
2004 “ ‘Congratulations!’ A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Responses to Another’s Happy News.” The Cultural Review 251: 355–386.Google Scholar
Emery, Peter
2000 “Greeting, Congratulating and Commiserating in Omani Arabic.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 131: 196–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geurts, Bart
2018 “Making Sense of Self Talk.” Review of Philosophy and Psychology 91: 271–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harb, Mustafa
2020 “Disagreement among Arabic Speakers in Faceless Computer-Mediated Communication.” Journal of Politeness Research. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hassan, Riffat
2005 “Marriage: Islamic Discourses.” In Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, ed. by Suad Joseph, vol. 31, 246–249. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Haugh, Michael
2010 “Jocular Mockery, (Dis)affiliation, and Face.” Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2106–2119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haugh, Michael, and Derek Bousfield
2012 “Mock Impoliteness, Jocular Mockery and Jocular Abuse.” Journal of Pragmatics 441: 1099–1114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hosni, Hala
2020 “Advice Giving in Egyptian Arabic and American English: A Cross-Linguistic, Cross-Cultural Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 1551: 193–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Jennifer
2008 Ululation in Levantine Society: The Cultural Reproduction of an Affective Vocalization. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania.
Kampf, Zohar
2016 “All the Best! Performing Solidarity in Political Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 931: 47–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keshishian, Lara
2018 Speech Act of Congratulation in Lebanese Arabic and English among University Students in Lebanon. M.A. thesis, American University of Beirut.
Kienpointer, Manfred
1997 “Varieties of Rudeness: Types and Functions of Impolite Utterances.” Functions of Language 41: 251–287. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kochovska, Svetlana
2013 “Expressing Congratulations in Latin: The Case of Cicero’s Correspondence.” Literatūra 551: 27–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey
1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Maalej, Zouhair
2008 “The Heart and Cultural Embodiment in Tunisian Arabic.” In Culture, Body, and Language, ed. by Farzad Sharifian, René Dirven, Ning Yu, and Susanne Niemeier, 395–428. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Maíz-Arévalo, Carmen
2017 “Expressive Speech Acts in Educational E-chats.” Sociocultural Pragmatics: 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mey, Jacob
2001 Pragmatics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
2017 “Unloading the Weapon: Act and Tact.” In Doing Pragmatics Interculturally, ed. by Rachel Giora and Michael Haugh, 389–397. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morkus, Nader
2014 “Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English.” Journal of Pragmatics 701: 86–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morrow, John
(ed.) 2006 Arabic, Islam and the Allah Lexicon. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen.Google Scholar
Nasri, Najmed, Hossein Dastjerdy, and Momeneh Ghadiri
2013 “Congratulation across Cultures: English versus Armenian and Persian Speakers.” Procedia 701: 67–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Neal
1978 “Expressive Illocutionary Acts.” Journal of Pragmatics 21: 277–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nydell, Margaret
1996 Understanding Arabs. Yarmouth: Intercultural Press.Google Scholar
Paltridge, Brian
2012 Discourse Analysis. London: Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qutbuddin, Tahera
2019 Arabic Oration. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, John
1969 Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1976 “A Classification of Illocutionary Acts.” Language in Society 51: 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taavitsainen, Irma, and Andreas Jucker
2008 “Speech Acts Now and Then: Towards a Pragmatic History of English.” In Speech Acts in the History of English, ed. by Andreas Jucker and Irma Taavitsainen, 1–26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Triandis, Harry
1995 Individualism and Collectivism. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ting-Toomey, Stella
1999 Communicating Across Cultures. New York: Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Trosborg, Anna
1995 Interlanguage Pragmatics. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trujillo, Victoria Eugenia Velez
2011 Sociopragmatic Study of Politeness in Speech Acts: Congratulating in Colombian Spanish. M.A. thesis, Arizona State University.
Unceta Gómez, Luis
2016 “Congratulations in Latin Comedy: Types and Functions.” Journal of Politeness Research 121: 267–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vanderveken, Daniel
2001 “Illocutionary Logic and Discourse Typology.” Revue Internationale de Philosophie 21: 243–255.Google Scholar
Verschueren, Jeff
1985 What People Say They Do With Words. Norwood: Ablex.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna
1987 English Speech Act Verbs. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Willer, Lynda
2001 “Warning: Welcome to Your World Baby, Gender Message Enclosed. An Analysis of Gender Messages in Birth Congratulation Cards.” Women and Language 24 (1): 16–23.Google Scholar
Wong, Jock
2010 “The “Triple Articulation” of Language.” Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2932–2944. DOI logoGoogle Scholar