Although the relationship between the cultural components of religion and language is tightly linked, there was not much pragmatic research that studied the influence of religion on language use. To understand the relationship between these cultural components in Algerian society, this study aims to investigate the impact of Islam on Algerian Arabic use in a classroom context by analysing request speech act. The data were collected through a Discourse Completion Task with the participation of 99 Algerian respondents. The data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively drawing on the face-saving approach to politeness [Brown and Levinson, 1987] and speech act theory [Searle, 1969; 1975; 1979] and [Austin, 1962]. The results revealed that the religious lexicon plays a major role in shaping the speech act of request. Moreover, religion is used as a politeness strategy in Algeria to mitigate the face for both speakers and hearers. Also, the study proved that the society’s religious values and norms motivate using religious expressions in Algerian requests.
Key words: Islam, Religious lexicon, Request speech act, language use, politeness strategy, Algerian Arabic, classroom context
DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2024_1_78
About the author
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Sarra Saadna – First year PhD student, domain: theoretical, comparative, and applied linguistics; RUDN University (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia); 6 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |