| المستخلص: |
This study investigates the similarities and differences between Arabic and English ways of accepting invitations and offers from a cross-cultural perspective. It tackles the problem of how to respond and accept invitations and offers as politeness phenomena in the societies of collectivistic (Arab) and individualistic (English) cultures. Having the sense of indebtedness, the invitee or the offeree needs to show the proper deference and to find the suitable words to express his appreciation sufficiently when he accepts an invitation or an offer. This study also attempts to categorize the various strategies used by the speakers of the two languages, and to identify the socio-cultural factors governing the use of these strategies. The study is based on the hypothesis that Arabic and English belong to two different cultures and reflect different cultural norms carried through the acceptance expressions. To achieve the objectives and test the validity of the hypotheses of this study, a discourse completion test (DCT) is used to collect the data. The DCT consists of twelve situations of invitation and other twelve situations of offer. The situations consist of two different variables: social status (low, equal, high) and social distance (close, distant). The data obtained were categorized into a number of strategies in the light of the theoretical framework. The model of this study is drawn upon Brown and Levinson (1978,1987) and Anna Wierzbicka (2003). The findings and conclusions, that have been arrived at, prove that there are more differences than similarities among the Arab and American English speakers in accepting invitations and offers. It is also proved that Arab speakers employ certain strategies that do not exist in English, and American English speakers use strategies that reflect features of the Anglo-Saxon culture.
|
