A Sociolinguistics Perspective of Interrogative Forms in English, Standard Arabic and Jordanian Dialects

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate some forms of interrogatives in Standard Arabic (SA), two Jordanian Arabic dialects (JAD): urban Jordanian Arabic (UJA) and rural Jordanian Arabic (RJA), and their impact on the Jordanian people's use of English Interrogative forms. It also examines how SA, and the two JAD are similar and different based on their forms and uses of interrogatives. Further, this study analyzes how each interrogative form is used in different classifications and contexts. The descriptive approach is used to describe the impact of SA, UJA and RJA on the use of English interrogative forms in social contexts. The study concludes that JADs share some interrogative forms and that some of them hold multiple meanings or usages. It also confirms that SA and its Jordanian dialects, UJA and RJA, to some extent, impact the Jordanian people's use of English interrogative forms.