阿拉伯人與美國人問候用語之探討

Abstract

Abstract

Greetings are often people's first impressions of one another; therefore, learning how to greet someone appropriately is important in making a good first impression and avoiding pragmatic failures. Many studies have been conducted on the speech act of greetings, and greetings in different cultures. However, very few numbers have been examined the relationship between the contextual variables (e.g., gender and social distance) and greeting strategies. Moreover, while previous researches have been done on Arabs greeting strategies or Americans greetings strategies, no previous study put Arabs and Americans greetings in comparison. This study aims to compare between greeting strategies used by Arabs and Americans in terms of oral speech and body language. In addition, some contextual variables, such as gender, social distance, and situations have been put into test in order to examine to what extent these variables could influence the use of greeting strategies. Three different data collection methods have been used in the purpose of achieving the goals of the study. The first one was the natural observation of some occasions and gatherings, where people naturally tend to use greeting strategies. The second data collection method was using the DCT questionnaire, which included 6 situations with different variables. A total of 60 participants of both Arabs and Americans group took part in the questionnaire. Afterwards, an interview with 18 participants, from both groups, has been held to understand the participant's perceptions about greeting strategies. The results showed that both Arabs and Americans used oral speech strategies more than body language in greetings. However, Americans tended to use more oral speech than Arabs in general, and Arabs used more body language strategies than Americans. The results also showed the differences in the greeting’s patterns used by Arabs and Americans in both oral speech and body language. While Arabs mostly used the routine greeting strategies, Americans tended to use variety of strategies and language. However, according to their culture, Arabs used many body language strategies, in which, some of them Americans avoided to use. Overall, the number and the use of greeting strategies differed between Arabs and Americans. Moreover, the contextual variables, such as gender, social distance and situations played an important role in influencing the choice of the greeting strategies in general.

Abstract

Greetings are often people's first impressions of one another; therefore, learning how to greet someone appropriately is important in making a good first impression and avoiding pragmatic failures. Many studies have been conducted on the speech act of greetings, and greetings in different cultures. However, very few numbers have been examined the relationship between the contextual variables (e.g., gender and social distance) and greeting strategies. Moreover, while previous researches have been done on Arabs greeting strategies or Americans greetings strategies, no previous study put Arabs and Americans greetings in comparison. This study aims to compare between greeting strategies used by Arabs and Americans in terms of oral speech and body language. In addition, some contextual variables, such as gender, social distance, and situations have been put into test in order to examine to what extent these variables could influence the use of greeting strategies. Three different data collection methods have been used in the purpose of achieving the goals of the study. The first one was the natural observation of some occasions and gatherings, where people naturally tend to use greeting strategies. The second data collection method was using the DCT questionnaire, which included 6 situations with different variables. A total of 60 participants of both Arabs and Americans group took part in the questionnaire. Afterwards, an interview with 18 participants, from both groups, has been held to understand the participant's perceptions about greeting strategies. The results showed that both Arabs and Americans used oral speech strategies more than body language in greetings. However, Americans tended to use more oral speech than Arabs in general, and Arabs used more body language strategies than Americans. The results also showed the differences in the greeting’s patterns used by Arabs and Americans in both oral speech and body language. While Arabs mostly used the routine greeting strategies, Americans tended to use variety of strategies and language. However, according to their culture, Arabs used many body language strategies, in which, some of them Americans avoided to use. Overall, the number and the use of greeting strategies differed between Arabs and Americans. Moreover, the contextual variables, such as gender, social distance and situations played an important role in influencing the choice of the greeting strategies in general.