Pragmatic Study of Swearing in Arabic with Reference to English

Abstract

The current study is concerned with the analytic pragmatic level of swearing in Arabic with reference to English .It tests the behavior of oath in both languages. The analysis of swearing aligns with the speech act theory developed firstly by Austin (1962) and developed later by Searle (1975). Giving oath is about giving a promise or a commitment by which the speaker obliges to a future action. The performative act of swearing in both English and Arabic is illocutionary with maintaining the locutionary and the perlocutionary acts. The study also proves that the felicity condition is satisfied through having a happy utterance in terms of swearing. In addition, as long as the cooperative principle is met, the Gricean maxims are well-established throughout this study.