The Relationship between the Usage of the Discourse Marker Cha and Speakers’ Educational Background: A Discourse-Pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to provide a discourse-pragmatic analysis of the functions of the Discourse Marker (DM) Cha when employed in Iraqi Arabic oral discourse. It also investigates if there is a relationship between the speaker's educational level and the use of the DM Cha with respect to its functions, type choices, and frequency of occurrence. Methods: The sample consists of 460 excerpts retrieved from two conversational contexts: in-person conversations and informal phone calls. Brinton’s (1996) framework has been applied in the analysis of the functions of the DM Cha at the textual and interpersonal levels of discourse. A chi-squared test has been utilized to find out to what extent well-educated informants and those with limited education are alike or different in terms of the functional use of this marker and its type-choices and whether the variation in frequency of the DM Cha is actually significant or can be attributed to chance. Results: This paper shows that there are no statistically significant differences in terms of function. However, a statistically significant difference is in favor of informants with limited education concerning type-choices and frequency of occurrence. Generally, well-educated informants seem to be more sensitive to the use of this marker as a less prestigious marker. Undoubtedly, this is attributed to the impact of education that is almost linked to the standardization and urbanization processes. Conclusions: The study recommends the need for further investigations to validate these results with reference to other DMs and social variables like age and social class