1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Pragmatics
  4. Volume 20, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 20, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1018-2101
  • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
PDF

Abstract

Even though the acknowledgement genre is a common practice in Arabic scholarly texts, this area is largely neglected in academic research. The present study examines the generic structure and the linguistic patterns of gratitude expressions used in acknowledegments accompanying the Arabic Ph.D. dissertation genre. To this end, I have analyzed the various rhetorical component options that writers use to convey gratitude and the role played by the socio-cultural factors in shaping this genre in a corpus of 100 Arabic acknowledgements accompanying Ph.D. dissertations in soft sciences written by doctoral Arabic native speakers. A discursive genre analysis reveals that Arab writers tend to use certain socio-cultural specific components that can be seen as contextualization cues bringing about the religious beliefs, and the academic and social conventions of the Arab writers. Further, they tend to utilize certain preferred address forms, and social honorifics together with various gratitude expression options having different degree of intensification to respond to different types of audience and reflect their complex relationships with the academic and social community members.

© 2010 International Pragmatics Association
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/prag.20.1.01ali
2010-01-01
2023-12-11

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/prag.20.1.01ali
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Al-Ali, M
    (2004) How to get yourself on the door of a Job: A cross-cultural contrastive study of Arabic and English job application letters. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural development 25: 1-23. doi: 10.1080/01434630408666517
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01434630408666517 [Google Scholar]
  2. (2006) Religious affiliations and masculine power in Jordanian wedding invitation genre. Discourse and Society17.6: 691-714. doi: 10.1177/0957926506068428
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926506068428 [Google Scholar]
  3. Al-Jawziyya, Ibn Qayyim
    (2000) ʕuddat Ɂal- s̼aabiriin wa- ðaxiirat Ɂal- ʃaakiriin. Beirut: Ɂal-maktabah Ɂal- ʕa s̼riyyah
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Ali, A
    (1989) The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentory. Brentwood. MD: Amana.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bazerman, C
    (1984) Modern evolution of the experimental report in physics: Spectroscopic articles in Physical Review, 1893-1980. Social Studies of Science14: 163-196. doi: 10.1177/030631284014002001
     https://doi.org/10.1177/030631284014002001 [Google Scholar]
  6. (1994) Systems of genres and the enactment of social intentions. In A. Freedman and P. Medway (eds.), Genre and New Rhetoric. London: Taylor & Francis, pp.79-101.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Ben-Ari, E
    (1987) On acknowledgements in ethnographies. Journal of Anthropological Research43.1: 63-84.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Berkenkotter, C. , and T. Huckin
    (1995) Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication: Cognition/Culture/Power. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bhatia, V
    (1993) Analyzing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. (2004) Worlds of Written Discourse. London: Continuum.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Boxer, D
    (2002) Applying Sociolinguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/impact.15
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/impact.15 [Google Scholar]
  12. Brodkey, L
    (1987) Academic Writing as Social Practice. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Brown, P. , and S. Levinson
    (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Castleton, B
    (2006) Frequency and function of religiously-based expressions. In J.A. Morrow (ed.), Arabic, Islam, and the Allah Lexicon. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, pp. 71-111.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Cronin, B
    (1991) Let the credits roll: A preliminary examination of the role played by mentors and trusted assessors in disciplinary formation. Journal of Documentation 47.3: 227-39. doi: 10.1108/eb026878
     https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026878 [Google Scholar]
  16. (1995) The Scholar’s Courtesy: The Role of Acknowledgement in the Primary Communication Process. London: Taylor Graham.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Farghal, M
    (2002) Situational and discoursal social honorifics in Jordan: An empirical study. International Journal of the Sociology of Language158: 163-181.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Farghal, M. , and A. Shaker
    (1994) Kin terms and titles of address as relational social honorifics in Jordanian Arabic. Anthropological Linguistics 36.2: 240-53.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Fairclough, N
    (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Faruqi, M
    (2005) Umma: The orientalists and the Qur'anic concept of identity. Journal of Islamic Studies 16.1: 1-34. doi: 10.1093/jis/16.1.1
     https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/16.1.1 [Google Scholar]
  21. Ferguson, C
    (1986) The study of religious discourse. In J. Alatis and D. Tannen (eds.), Language and Linguistics: The Interdependence of Theory, Data and Application. Georgetown Round Table on Languages and Linguistics, 1985, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Foley, W
    (1997) Anthropological Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Genette, G
    (1997) Palimpsests. Literature in the Second Degree. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Giannoni, D
    (2002) Worlds of gratitude: A contrastive study of acknowledgement texts in English and Italian research articles. Applied Linguistics23.1: 1-31. doi: 10.1093/applin/23.1.1
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/23.1.1 [Google Scholar]
  25. Gu, Y
    (1990) Politeness phenomenon in modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics14: 237-257. doi: 10.1016/0378‑2166(90)90082‑O
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90082-O [Google Scholar]
  26. Halliday, M.K. , and R. Hasan
    (1989) Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social- semiotic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Harries. L
    (1958) Jordan, its People, its Society, its culture. New York: Grove Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Holemes, J
    (1995) Women, Men and Politeness. London: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Hyland, K
    (2000) Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. (2003) Dissertation acknowledgements. Written Communication20.3: 242-268. doi: 10.1177/0741088303257276
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088303257276 [Google Scholar]
  31. (2004) Graduates’ gratitude: The generic structure of dissertation acknowledgements. English for Specific Purposes23: 303-324. doi: 10.1016/S0889‑4906(03)00051‑6
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(03)00051-6 [Google Scholar]
  32. (2005) Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing. London: Continuum.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Hyland, K. , and P. Tse
    (2004) ‘I would like to thank my supervisor': Acknowledgements in graduate dissertations. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 14.2: 259-275. doi: 10.1111/j.1473‑4192.2004.00062.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2004.00062.x [Google Scholar]
  34. Ide, S
    (2005) How and why honorifics can signify dignity and elegance: The indexicality of reflexivity of linguistic rituals. In R. Lakoff and S. Ide (eds.), Broadening the Horizon of Linguistic Politeness. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing Company, pp. 45-64. doi: 10.1075/pbns.139.06ide
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.139.06ide [Google Scholar]
  35. Kress, G
    (1989) Linguistic Processes in Sociocultural Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Lee, S
    (2002) Politeness and E-mail discourse: A study on the use of linguistic forms of politeness by Chinese learners of English. "Knowledge and discourse: Speculating on disciplinary features", 2nd International Conference, Hong Kong, June, 2002.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Levinson, S
    (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Lu, Y
    (2009) Cultural difference of politeness in English and Chinese. Asian Social science 5.6: 154-56.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. MacKintosh, K
    (1972) Acknowledgement Patterns in Sociology. Oregon: University of Oregon. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. MacCain, K
    (1991) Communication, competition, and secrecy: The production and dissemination of research-related information in genetics. Science, Technology and Human Values16.4: 491-516. doi: 10.1177/016224399101600404
     https://doi.org/10.1177/016224399101600404 [Google Scholar]
  41. Manno, G
    (2005) Politeness in Switzerland: Between respect and acceptance. In L. Hickey and M. Stewart (eds.), Politeness in Europe. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp.100-115.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Martin, J
    (1992) English Text: System and Structure. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/z.59
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/z.59 [Google Scholar]
  43. McAuliffe, J.
    (ed.) (2003) The Encyclopedia of the Qur’an. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Miller, C
    (1984) Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech70: 151-167. doi: 10.1080/00335638409383686
     https://doi.org/10.1080/00335638409383686 [Google Scholar]
  45. Morrow, J
    (2006) The origin of the Allah lexicon. In J.A. Morrow (ed.), Arabic, Islam, and the Allah Lexicon. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, pp. 115-187.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Mursy, A. , and J. Wilson
    (2001) Towards a definition of Egyptian complimenting. Multilingua 20.2: 133-154. doi: 10.1515/MULTI.2001.006
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/MULTI.2001.006 [Google Scholar]
  47. Nelson, G. , M. al-Batal , and E. Echols
    (1996) Arabic and English compliment responses: Potential for pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics 17.4: 411-32. doi: 10.1093/applin/17.4.411
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/17.4.411 [Google Scholar]
  48. Rugh, A
    (1985) Family in Contemporary Egypt. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Said, A
    (1979) Precept and practice of human rights in Islam. Universal Human Rights1.1: 64-79. doi: 10.2307/761831
     https://doi.org/10.2307/761831 [Google Scholar]
  50. Samovar, L. , and R. Porter
    (1994) Intercultural Communication: A Reader. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Sell, R
    (1991) Literary genre and history: Questions from a literary pragmaticist for socio-semioticians. In E. Ventola (ed.), Approaches to the Analysis of Literary Discourse. Abo: Abo Academy Press, pp. 1-35.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Swales, J
    (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Setting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. (2004) Research Genres: Exploration and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139524827
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524827 [Google Scholar]
  54. Swales, J. , and C. Feak
    (1994) Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. An Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Swangboonsatic, C
    (2006) Different requestive styles on E-mail between Australians and Thais. NIDA Language and Communication Journal 11.11: 62-84.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Watt, W
    (1987) Islamic Political Thought. Edinbugh: Edinburgh University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Widdowson, H
    (1990) Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Wierzbicka, A
    (1997) Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Wolfson, N
    (1989) Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House. doi: 10.1080/14631378908427591
     https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631378908427591 [Google Scholar]
  60. Wong, Song Mei-Lee
    (2000) Cross Cultural Communication: Politeness and Face in Chinese Culture. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/prag.20.1.01ali
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Acknowledgements; Arabic dissertations; Genre; Socio-cultural motivations

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error