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Indirectness in Female Conversations: Exploring Differences in Interactions with Females and Males in Mosuli Arabic Conversations

This study explores the use of indirectness in female conversations, specifically examining the differences in indirectness when interacting with females and males. The hypothesis posits that females employ indirectness differently based on the gender of their interlocutors and that politeness serves as the main motivation for using indirect communication. The research aims to investigate the patterns of indirectness in informal everyday conversations. Data were collected from Mosuli Arabic participants, aged 30-50, with similar social backgrounds but varying educational levels. The study adopts Holtgraves' speech act theory (2002) and Grice's cooperative principle (1975) as the theoretical framework for data analysis. The analysis focuses on 12 selected extracts from smartphone recordings of family, friends, and relative gatherings. Findings reveal that females employ indirectness in distinct ways when interacting with females and males. Politeness, particularly positive politeness, emerges as a primary motivation for using indirect communication in both contexts. In female-female interactions, the nature of the relationship between interlocutors plays a significant role, leading to indirectness being used for intensity, politeness, or even shaming. Cultural factors influence the occurrence of impolite and shaming messages among Arab females. Findings also reveal that in interactions with males, politeness remains prominent, but indirectness is also employed for criticism and defending others. The use of indirectness with males appears to be less influenced by the relationship or age between interlocutors. These findings highlight the complex nature of indirect communication, which is influenced by factors like politeness, dynamics within relationships, and cultural influences.

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Teaching Ecological Awareness Through Literature: A Case Study of Ghassan Kanafani’s Returning to Haifa

Theories like Feminism, Marxism and Post-colonialism work on the contextualization of literature. Exponents of these theories promote the employment of such approaches in the field of education in order to raise the students’ awareness towards social and political issues, and help them inculcate and develop the skill of critical reading of literary texts. In the 1990s, a new approach evolved in the domain of literary studies that called for the same task but from a different perspective, i.e. Ecocriticism. Hence, taking Ecocriticism as a theoretical framework, the paper in hand has discussed Ghassan Kanafani’s novella Returning to Haifa with a special focus on the use of nature and environment with their various meanings and connotations in the novella. The paper’s main objective is to contribute in the promotion of Ecocriticism as a tool for critical reading. It also aimed at raising students’ awareness of environmental crises, particularly those caused by conflicts and wars. The paper has postulated that Ecological awareness would help students to gain better understanding of the consequences of conflicts and to be more cautious in their treatment of the environment around them. After the analysis of Kanafani’s novella, the researcher found that the author attempted to convey messages to the readers through his treatment of nature. Most of these messages lament the loss of the natural elements as well as the human intuitive nature due to wars and conflicts that result in displacement of people and hence the destruction of environment and imbalance in the ecosystem.

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