Pragmatic Functions of Insha’Allah and Masha’Allah in Saudi Arabian Dialects: A Comparative Study of Hijazi and Ghamdi Varieties (Published)
The expressions Insha’Allah (“if God wills”) and Masha’Allah (“what God has willed”) in Saudi Arabic dialects function both as religious terms and pragmatic expressions. The expressions function beyond their basic meanings because speakers employ them to show politeness and to prevent direct refusal, and to convey ironic messages. The research examines the usage patterns of these expressions among speakers who speak Hijazi and Ghamdi dialects through interviews with 20 participants who make up equal numbers from both groups. The research demonstrates that Insha’Allah functions as a tool to make refusals less harsh, yet Masha’Allah serves to either praise or mock based on the speaker’s tone and situational context. The analysis uses Grice’s maxims and politeness theory to demonstrate how these expressions demonstrate cultural norms and religious identities in Saudi Arabic discourse, which enhances regional pragmatic understanding.
Keywords: Saudi, cultural norms, pragmatic functions
PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKS’ ACRONYMS (Published)
Social networks have a growing presence in modern communication. They have their own remarkable features. Online communication led to the development of English language acronyms which are considered a common feature in social networks. The present study aims at exploring the most frequently used acronyms in social network communications and the pragmatic functions of these acronyms. A questionnaire was conducted to elicit the acronyms and their usage from the participants’ point of view. To validate the results, a thousand-line corpus of social network utterances was created and analyzed using text analysis software. The results indicated that there are about 30 acronym which are used in different situations by social network users.
Keywords: Acronyms, Social Networks, pragmatic functions