University of Babylon College of Education for Human Sciences/ Department of English Postgraduate Studies/ PhD Programme

Social Factors
Influencing Politeness in English and Arabic

A Proposal for a PhD Dissertation Submitted to the Seminar Committee in the Department

by Ahmed Sahib Jabir

March, 2013

1. The problem
It is a widely acknowledged fact that politeness is the key factor of smooth interaction in daily communication. Failure to observe it often results in communication breakdown since interlocutors would like to have their freedom of action unimpeded and their self-esteem maintained. Additionally, expressing the due amount of politeness in any situation depends on the speakers appreciation of the social factors in that situation. For example, if you want someone to answer the phone, you will use one the following expressions: 1. Answer the phone. 2. I want you to answer the phone. 3. Will you answer the phone? 4. Can you answer the phone? 5. Would you mind answering the phone? 6. Could you possibly answer the phone? (Leech, 1983: 108) The choice of one expression rather than another will entirely depend on the social factors involved, such as age, sex, power, etc. Mostly, you will choose (5) or (6) if the one you are talking to is older than you and from the opposite sex. Examples (3) and (4) are more suitable with friends and you will use (1) if you are addressing you son or daughter, etc. The social factors in different societies have been elaborately studied (see, for instance, Brown and Levinsons (1978) study for the English society; Blum-Kulkas (1992) for the Israeli; Ides (1989) for the Japanese; Gus (1990) for the Chinese; and Zeyreks (2001) for the Turkish). As for the Modern Standard Arabic, it seems that there are still
1

a few attempts to give a sort of description of the social factors affecting the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic. It is for this reason that this study will seek to fill part of this gap in the literature by attempting to give a description of the social factors influencing the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic. More specifically, the study will try to find answers to the following questions: 1. What are the influential social factors that affect the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic? 2. How do these factors influence Iraqi EFL university students realisation of politeness in English? 3. What are the differences in the way the social factors affect the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic and Standard English? 4. How far do the Iraqi EFL university students appreciate the influence of the English social factors on the realisation of politeness in English?

2. Aims of the study

The study sets itself the task of fulfilling the following aims: 1. Identifying the influential social factors that affect the realisation of politeness in the Modern Standard Arabic dialect. 2. Investigating the extent to which these factors influence Iraqi EFL university students realisation of politeness in English. 3. Specifying the differences in the way the social factors affect the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic and English.
2

4. Exploring the extent to which Iraqi EFL university students appreciate the English social factors in the realisation of politeness in English.

3. Hypotheses
In the light of the aims mentioned above, it is hypothesized that: 1. The influential social factors that influence the realisation of politeness in Iraqi Arabic are age, power, and gender. 2. The social factors have an influence on Iraqi EFL university students realisation of politeness in English. 3. The main difference in the way the social factors affect the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic and English lies in the influence they assign to each social factor. 4. Iraqi EFL university students will not adequately appreciate the English social factors in the realisation of politeness in English.

4. Limits of the Study

The empirical work will include the following groups: a) Group (1) will comprise the Arabic native speakers represented by students and faculty members chosen from the Department of Arabic/ College of Education for Human Sciences/ University of Babylon. b) Group (2) will comprise EFL students and faculty members who have not spent a significant period of time in an English speaking community chosen from the Department of Arabic/ College of Education for Human Sciences/ University of Babylon. c) Group (3) will comprise native speakers of English.

5. Procedures
In order to achieve the aims of the study, the following procedures will be adopted: 1. Presenting a theoretical background consisting of: a) A general survey of the social factors that affect the realisation of politeness in general. b) A description of the social features of the Arabic society. 2. Conducting an empirical work via two discourse completion tasks: a. The first is written in Modern Standard Arabic to be applied to Group (1). b. The second is written in English to be applied to Group (2) and Group (3). 3. After analyzing the data of the three groups: a. The social factors that affect the realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic will be specified and described to identify the influential ones (Aim No.1). b. The results of Group (1) and Group (2) will be compared to find out the effects of the social factors on Iraqi EFL university students and faculty members realisation of politeness in English (Aim No.2). c. The results of Group (1) and Group (3) will be contrasted to find out the differences in realisation of politeness in Modern Standard Arabic and English (Aim No.3). d. The results of Group (2) and Group (3) will be compared to find out how Iraqi EFL university students and faculty members appreciate the English social factors in the realisation of politeness in English (Aim No.4).
4

6. Value of the study

It is hoped that this study will be of both theoretical and practical value for all those interested in social, sociolinguistic and EFL studies. In addition, it might be of interest to scholars of related fields of study such as pragmatics, discourse analysis, anthropological linguistics. Not to mention its benefit to textbooks writers, syllabus designers and students. References Blum-Kulka, S. (1992) The metapragmatics of politeness in Israeli society, in Watts, R. J., Ide, S. and Ehlich, K. (eds.), Politeness in Language: Studies in its History, Theory and Practice. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 255--80. Brown, P. and Levinson, S. 1978, Universals in language usage: politeness phenomena, in Goody, E. (ed.), Questions and Politeness, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 56--289. Gu, Y. (1990) Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese, Journal of Pragmatics 14(2): 237--57. Ide, S. (1989) Formal forms and discernment: two neglected aspects of linguistic politeness, Multilingua 8(2/3): 223--48. Lakoff, R. (1973) The logic of politeness; or minding your ps and qs, Chicago Linguistics Society 8: 292--305. Leech, G. 1983, Principles of Pragmatics, London: Longman. Zeyrek, D (2001) Politeness in Turkish and its linguistic manifestations: A socio-cultural perspective in Arin Bayraktarolu and Maria Sifianou (eds) Linguistic Politeness across Boundaries The Case of Greek and Turkish. Amsterdam: Benjamins Publishers.
5