Abstract
This study investigates the types and frequency of supportive moves in Yemeni Arabic as used by female speakers in the same gender and cross-gender. The respondents of the study were 336 undergraduate students from Sana’a University, aged 20-23. All of the participants are relatively homogeneous in terms of their cultural background. The data were collected by using Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The analysis of the data is based on Blum-Kulka et al’s (1989) CCSARP (Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project) coding scheme. The results showed that Yemeni females showed greater use of external supportive moves when interacting with females more than to males. Regarding the use of external supportive moves according to the direct head act of requests and indirect head of requests, in general, female respondents in F-F, F-M interactions have a great tendency to employ external supportive moves with the direct and indirect head act of requests. It seems that the use of external supportive moves in Yemeni Arabic with the indirect head act of requests is obligatory to mitigate and soften requests and make it polite request. In other words, it was observed that female respondents convey polite requests by using external supportive moves regardless of directness or indirectness.
Highlights
The emphasis on language as accomplishing certain communicative function led to concentrate on the notion of the speech acts, or the use of an utterance to achieve a specific goal
It is interesting to observe that the male respondents in F-F and F-M interactions convey the polite request by using the external supportive moves regardless of directness or indirectness. It seems that the use of external supportive moves in Yemeni Arabic with direct and indirect head act of requests is very important to convey polite request
The findings showed that Yemeni females showed greater use of external supportive moves when interacting with females more than to males
Summary
The emphasis on language as accomplishing certain communicative function led to concentrate on the notion of the speech acts, or the use of an utterance to achieve a specific goal. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the use of supportive moves as mitigators for request. Felix-Brasdefer (2005) conducted a study to examine the notions of indirectness and politeness in speech act of requests, including head acts and external modifications, among Mexican University students in role-play situation. The findings indicate that NSs of Mexican Spanish use various supportive moves to soften and smooth conversational interaction. These supportive moves are considered as mitigators to soften the harshness of direct requests. The current study is an attempt in this direction to examine this important aspect of their communicative competence in Yemeni Arabic through request as an important type of speech acts. The current study differs from previous studies because it investigates the kind of supportive moves and their roles in making polite request in Yemeni Arabic in the same gender and cross gender
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call