Congratulation Strategies of Crown Prince Hussein’s Wedding: A Socio-pragmatic Study of Facebook Comments
-
Hisham Isam Abu Manie’
,
Linda A. Alkhawaja
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the most frequently used congratulation strategies as well as positive politeness strategies used by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein. To achieve these goals, a sample of 600 comments was collected from three posts related to three official Facebook pages. The comments were categorized and analyzed based on Elwood’s (2004) classification of congratulation strategies and the positive politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). The results of the study revealed that the most frequent congratulation strategies used by Jordanian Facebook users in congratulating Prince Hussein and his bride were the employment of the illocutionary force indicating device (IFID), represented by congratulations, in combination with other strategies, followed by IFID as a single strategy, and the offer of good wish. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the most politeness strategies employed were intensifying interest to the hearer in combination with other politeness strategies, followed by giving gifts to the hearer and intensifying interest to the hearer as a single politeness strategy. Religious expressions and invocations to Allah were dominant among the congratulatory comments.
1 Introduction
Communication is the main element that links individuals, communities, and nations and boosts social relationships through verbal or non-verbal means. The act of speaking and writing are commonly used by people to transfer information and knowledge in verbal communication (Almommani, 2024). On the contrary, actions such as gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions are involved in non-verbal communication (Abumariam & Qandeel, 2023). In both ways, the pragmatic competence of social contexts should be comprehended to achieve the communicative goals and avoid pragmatic failure (Hymes, 1972; Al Mwadiah, 2019). Computer-mediated communication, such as social media with its different platforms, has become one of the dominant forms of communication and part of daily life, where people can effortlessly contact each other and share information regardless of distance or time zones (Methawut, 2004).
One of the most popular social media communication platforms is Facebook. It allows people to communicate effectively and stay in touch from all over the world by sharing different types of media, such as texts, pictures, and videos (Abusaleh et al., 2024; Adwan & Altrjman, 2024; Al-Adwan et al., 2020; Din et al., 2025; Ewaida, 2022; Hamdan & Sayyed, 2022; Smadi et al., 2023; Zainal et al., 2022). People can easily share posts about their own ideas, opinions, announcements, events, and happy occasions, where users can easily and quickly respond in a nonlinguistic way by sending an emoji or in a linguistic way by writing a comment such as “congratulation.”
Searle (1969) defined “congratulations” as an expressive act since it reveals a person’s sincerity towards a specific happy situation. Searle and Vanderveken (1985) considered “congratulation” as expressing pleasure at the good fortune of others. According to Austine (1962), “congratulation” is the speech act to express a reaction to another’s behavior and fortune. It is worth mentioning that congratulations, i.e., traditional ones differ from those offered on social media in many ways. First, the tone and style are a bit different. To elaborate, the traditional ones are often formal which might be through cards, emails, or in-person, unlike the ones written on social media, which are mainly characterized by being casual, concise, and playful. For instance, one can use emojis, abbreviations, or humor while offering congratulations on different social media platforms. Such style is completely absent in traditional congratulations. In terms of audience and purpose, traditional congratulations are private in which they are directed to an individual like sending a congratulatory card to a friend whereas offering congratulations via social media is deemed as public since the community engaged in comments can double by liking and commenting on the post. Another difference is the specific features of the medium of communication. Social media congratulations can include visual elements that do not exist in traditional congratulations like GIFs, stickers, or tagged photos. The use of Hashtags is another salient feature that is used to join broader conversations. Cultural context is another crucial point that makes traditional congratulations different from the media congratulations. For instance, offering congratulations on social media can feel more obligatory while the traditional ones are considered intentional. To clarify, if your friend adds a post that needs congratulations, you are in one way or another obliged to write a congratulatory message (Crystal, 2008; Boyd, 2014).
Whenever it comes to speech acts like congratulations, one has to think of not only how to use the language correctly in terms of structure, rules, and vocabulary, but also special attention must be paid to how to use the language properly in various social contexts taking into account politeness, understanding the conveyed message as well as the tone (Domaneschi & Bambini, 2020). These two notions refer to linguistic competence and pragmatic competence. The former deals with the linguistic structural aspect, while the latter focuses on the practical and social aspects of communication. It is crucial to note that if a person has a solid linguistic background, i.e., linguistic competence, this does not guarantee having pragmatic competence.
Elwood (2004) clarified that the used patterns in congratulatory expressions may be affected by the culture and vary in different situations. During the wedding of Prince Hussein[1], Jordanian Facebook users expressed their joyful emotions by posting congratulatory comments for the bride and the groom on Facebook, which is a multimodal communication platform. Therefore, this article aims to explore the frequently used congratulation strategies offered by Jordanian Facebook users by employing Elwood’s (2004) taxonomy of congratulation strategies and reveal the positive politeness strategies based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) classification. Thus, this study seeks to provide a reliable resource for learners and speakers learning Arabic as a second language by answering the following questions:
In light of Elwood’s taxonomy (2004), what are the most frequently used congratulation strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein?
Based on Brown and Levinson’s classification (1987), what positive politeness strategies are used by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein?
The significance of the current research stems from the fact that it is different from previous studies since it focuses on the congratulatory comments posted by Facebook users during the royal wedding, which has not been linguistically investigated yet. Moreover, the findings of the current study might be beneficial for those learning Arabic as a second language since they enhance learners' communication skills and pragmatic competence by providing real-life examples that lead students to use convenient communication structures. Further, the findings of the current study might be useful for researchers in sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. They might also be used in contrastive studies dealing with either two languages or two varieties of the same language. Unlike the previous studies that collected their data from a discourse completion test (DCT), this study resorted to Facebook comments as naturally occurring data. The corpus of this study makes the results much more authentic.
2 Theoretical Background
Austin (1962), the founder of the modern study of speech acts, emphasized that speakers perform acts simultaneously while making statements. Austin classified speech acts into three types: (1) Locutionary acts, which implicate producing speech sounds by selecting a group of words following a particular structure to convey the intended meaning. (2) Illocutionary acts refer to what the speaker means, showing the speaker's intention behind their words, like asking questions, making offers, giving orders, expressing certain emotions, and more. (3) Perlocutionary acts indicate how the listener interprets and responds to what is said and the effects of the speaker's speech on the recipient's understanding and response as a communication result. According to Austin's perspective, every utterance and its meaning carry out specific actions and functions guided by precise forces.
According to Searle and Vanderveken (1985), the notion of illocutionary acts is essential as it shows that the same sentence can be implemented to perform various illocutionary acts. The illocutionary acts concept is the core of acquiring the pragmatics of a particular language. Oishi (2006) interpreted Austin’s (1962) explanation of the illocutionary acts as describing how meaning exists through the relationship between the linguistic conventions, the sentences, the context, and the speaker's intention.
Searle (1969, pp. 16–18) stated that every form of linguistic communication includes linguistic act performance. In the performance of a speech act, the linguistic communication units extend beyond the words or symbols, and the events or actions take place through language; this is why it is called a "speech act," which represents the fundamental elements of linguistic communication. Searle clarified that the meaning of the sentence does not always convey the exact meaning of the speech act of the utterance. Sometimes, the speaker may imply a different meaning beyond what is directly said. So, the speech act is the functional interpretation of the uttered sentence. Therefore, Searle (1979, pp. 10–21) proposed a thorough paradigm that includes the following five classifications:
Assertives are speech acts in which the speakers are committed to the degree of their expressions towards a specific event by using the verbs describe, conclude, classify, and so on.
Directives are used to steer the hearer to do something by using verbs such as requests, commands, and orders.
Commissives are actions which commit the speaker to do something such as promise, swear, threaten, and so on.
Expressives are used to express the speaker’s psychological state such as congratulating, apologizing, thanking, welcoming, and so on.
Declaratives are used when the speaker announces and declares a specific action.
Language is an effective tool used to convey messages and meanings for different purposes, such as making requests, offering assistance, asking questions, expressing wishes, persuading people, and more, which communicators intend to reveal beyond the sequence of used words (Al-Sayyed & Rabab’ah, 2020; Amayreh & Amayreh, 2020; Yaseen et al., 2022).
Whenever congratulation strategies are addressed, one has to think of positive politeness strategies. The politeness strategies, adopted by Brown and Levinson (1987), are employed in sociolinguistic and pragmatic analytical studies. Sapitri et al. (2020, p.120) explained that "the politeness strategy presented by Brown and Levinson (1987) for oral discourse can be applied to interpret the scientific culture of scientific writing." Positive politeness strategies, such as the speech act of congratulation, can be applied to interpret verbal and non-verbal communication (e.g., gestures, silence, norms, gifts), indicating how people use language to reveal their intentions and emotions. The framework of the politeness strategies is based on four types: positive politeness, negative politeness, bald-on-record, and off-record politeness strategies, which are used to convey messages that reflect the speaker's facial expressions, as anyone who interacts reveals either a positive face or a negative one (ibid, 2020). Brown and Levinson (1987) explained that three social factors are taken into consideration while communicating: power, social distance, and coercion. However, there are two aspects to most expressions: one is connected with real-world situations, and one is related to the speaker's attitudes and role (Halliday, 2003).
Elwood (2004) introduced the taxonomy of congratulation strategies, representing the classification system of expressing congratulations. This taxonomy is a valuable tool for analyzing the semantic components of the speech act of congratulations. The context in different situations should be considered when using Elwood’s (2004, p. 356) taxonomy of congratulation strategies, as the types of congratulatory speech acts might differ based on the type of events and the cultural contexts. Elwood’s (2004) Taxonomy would be modified based on the participants' responses; for example, Allami and Nekouzadeh (2011) made an adequate compensation between the taxonomy and Brown and Levinson’s (1987) positive politeness strategies.
Leech’s (1983, p. 132) politeness maxims are usable for the speech act of congratulation dealing with the “approbation maxim” that states minimizing impolite expressions and maximizing polite terms. Mahzari (2017) explained that Leech (1983) suggested and categorized intensifiers for polite speech acts based on social illocutionary functions. Leech indicated that the politeness principle guides communicators to balance conversations and avoid tensions.
Since the current study focuses on congratulatory messages on Facebook, it is important to highlight the difference between pragmatics and media pragmatics. According to Leech (1983), pragmatics is a subfield related to linguistics which studies how language is used in real-world context for the sake of conveying meaning hidden beyond the literal spoken words. Specifically, it examines how different factors like the intention of the speaker, how the listener interprets the message, social context as well as shared knowledge can influence the communication process. Media pragmatics, it deals with similar principles of general pragmatics when analyzing the texts written via social media. It aims at studying how messages written via social media are structured and interpreted with regard to the social, cultural, and technological contexts (Hoffmann & Bublitz, 2017).
This study also considers the interplay between ordinary philosophy and media philosophy. The former deals with abstract things and basic queries about existence, knowledge, and values through the lenses of logical reasoning and persuasive arguments while the latter investigates the impact of media on individuals, groups, societies, and culture. These impacts include but are not limited to ethical, social, and political implications (Krämer, 2015). In practice, the current study examines how social media, i.e., Facebook, shapes people’s understanding of a significant social event. This social media platform also provides a venue to explore the social, cultural, and communicative practices associated with social media usage.
2.1 Empirical Studies on Happy Occasions in the Jordanian Context
Al-Qudah (2001) investigated the written and spoken speech act of congratulations frequently used on various happy occasions by Jordanian people. The researcher tried to find out about the underlying register of linguistic etiquette in Jordanian society, taking into consideration social factors such as gender, age, education, and social status. The researcher recorded people’s expressions during different happy occasions for the spoken data, and regarding the written data, daily newspapers, and authentic postcards were used. The congratulatory expressions were categorized into two classifications; restricted expressions and elaborated expressions. They were based on the mentioned social factors to show that the speech act of congratulations in Jordan is regularly influenced by those social factors. It was noticed that women elaborate more than men with their expressions.
At the post graduate level, Al-Shboul and Huwari (2016) studied the congratulatory strategies used by Jordanian students aiming at examining the positive politeness strategies adopted by those students. To achieve the goals of the study, data were gathered through a four-situation DCT that targeted two happy occasions of marriage and having a new baby. The former was used to analyze and categorize the types of strategies used by respondents, while the latter was adopted to find out the positive politeness strategies. The results showed that the most frequently used strategies were the illocutionary force indicating device (IFID), offer of good wish (OoGW), and writing some EoH. In connection to the positive politeness strategies, the results proved that respondents utilized different strategies like giving gifts to the listener, exaggeration, as well as the use of in-group identity makers.
Al-Shboul et al. (2022) explored the speech act of congratulations used by Jordanian Facebookers during the His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan’s 60th birthday celebration. The data were collected from different Facebook posts. The researchers collected 2,436 related comments. The findings showed that IFID is the most common strategy used by Facebook users followed by an OoGW while the least frequently used one is the use of proverbs and sayings. Moreover, the corpus data proved that the most frequently used positive politeness strategies are giving gifts to the listener and using in-group identity marker (usage of address forms). As for the least frequently positive politeness strategies used, the results showed that exaggerating and seeking agreement (safe topic) strategies were at the bottom of the ladder. The study concluded that Jordanian Facebook users were influenced by the religious beliefs, cultural values, and social norms while offering their congratulations.
Ammari et al. (2024) conducted a study to investigate the various congratulation strategies used by Jordanian social media users and the cultural impact on their speech act of congratulation. The sample of the study consists of 400 comments from both genders collected from Facebook and WhatsApp platforms. The researchers gathered the messages and comments from religious events, graduations, having a baby, and getting married occasions. The findings indicated that IFI), OoGW, and the EoH combined with using the word “Allah” were the most frequently used strategies. It was also noticed that some social media users combine more than one strategy in one congratulatory comment. Moreover, using the name “Allah” was found as a new approach regarding cultural and religious influences.
2.2 Empirical Studies on Happy Occasions in the non – Jordanian Context
Dastjerdi and Nasri (2012) analyzed the congratulatory strategies employed by three different groups of native speakers, American English, Iranian Persian, and Syrian Arabic, to investigate the influence of their cultural differences on language use. The investigation was accomplished by employing a DCT to be filled by the participants on four different happy situations. The results showed similar attitudes as the three groups were sensitive towards the recipient’s status, and asked fewer questions for the higher status hearer when using the request for information strategy. Regarding the differences, the OoGW strategy was more used by the Arabic speakers than the American and Persian speakers.
Conducting a sociopragmatic study, Mahzari (2017) examined the verbal and nonverbal responses to congratulatory comments made by Saudi Facebook users on the events of happy occasions. The sample of the study consisted of 1,721 congratulatory comments on Facebook. The study results revealed that the most often used verbal response strategies were OoGW, indicating that the situation was warranted, and praising. It also revealed that congratulatory expressions and OoGW were the most frequently used out of 100 verbal compound strategies. Also, about 42 different types of emojis with different functions were employed. As a result, Facebook users powerfully used nonverbal strategies to express their gladness and congratulations.
Eshreteh (2020) studied the congratulation strategies offered by Palestinian Facebook users. The data were based on 214 congratulatory comments collected from two posts on Facebook, one was giving birth occasion and the other was getting married. The study findings showed that most of the speech acts were influenced by cultural norms. In addition to that, the study presented that IFID, e.g., “congratulations,” and request for information, e.g., “Is your new baby a boy or a girl?” were the most used strategies.
Lect and Abdulkhaleq (2020) analyzed the congratulation strategies used by undergraduate students. Data were collected from a ten-happy situation DCT completed in the Iraqi Arabic language. The DCT was completed by 30 male and 30 female students. The study concluded that the strategies of offering wishes, thanking, and invocation strategy were mostly used. Furthermore, expressing joy and thanking Allah were the occasionally used strategies.
With a special focus on the Malay language, Muhammad Irahim and Abu Bakar (2020) studied the congratulatory messages written by Malaysian people on three happy situations, namely success in sports, work, and study. To help achieve the goal, the data were compiled from two social media platforms, i.e., Facebook and Twitter. The corpus of the study consisted of 577 comments and tweets that were collected over a period of 4 months in 2019. Then the verbal and non-verbal comments and tweets were analyzed and classified. The corpus data showed that (IFID), which is embodied by the use of congratulation “tahniah,” was the most frequently used strategy. Moreover, both “statement-based situation” and “prayer and compliments” were among the most frequently used strategies.
Setyorini (2020) examined the congratulation and politeness strategies used by Indonesian Facebookers and addressed Aryan Permana, the heaviest child in the world, for gaining a normal weight. The data source was the Facebook user’s comments, which were collected using the observation technique. The results showed that expressing feelings of happiness, complimenting, and the use of divine statements were the most used strategies.
Wardat and Alkhateeb (2020) carried out a study, looking at the analyses of the politeness strategies used by Syrian residents in Jordan. A fourteen-question DCT was used to collect data, and completed by 72 male and female Syrian respondents. The results revealed that Syrians usually exaggerate when offering congratulations, as well as expressing joy to the bride and groom. However, they neither ask about private concerns nor make jokes concerning politeness.
Aziz (2023) carried out a study to examine the way Iraqi people pragmatically express congratulations to know more about the main used strategies. It also aimed to examine the differences between males and females in expressing congratulations, and the positive politeness strategies used. The study sample consists of 116 Iraqi participants who answered questions in a DCT to fulfill the investigation. The study results revealed that seven congratulation strategies were frequently used viz., “saying congratulations, giving good wishes, expressing happiness, using jokes, mentioning the reason, asking for information, and giving compliments. Moreover, some differences between males and females occurred when using various congratulation strategies. To elaborate, males appeared to be more direct in expressing congratulations than females. Additionally, females frequently used “giving good wishes” and were more curious and asked for more information. Moreover, “giving gifts” was the most positive politeness strategy used by both males and females.
Bayo and Mark (2023) investigated the congratulation strategies used by Kiswahili Facebook users when offering their congratulatory expressions towards H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan for being the first female president of the United Republic of Tanzania. Moreover, the researchers investigated the most frequently used positive politeness strategies. The study sample included 200 responses and comments were collected from Facebook posts related to the event. Data were analyzed and categorized to show the frequently used strategies by the Kiswahili Facebook users. The analysis showed that Facebook users tend to use five different congratulatory strategies, namely IFID, religious expressions, OoGW, expressions of faith, and expressing encouragement. The results proved that Facebook users tend to resort mainly to three positive politeness strategies, namely giving a gift to a listener, including the speaker and hearer in the activity, and noticing and attending to the hearer’s interests, wants, and needs.
To sum up, having reviewed the literature, it seemed that the empirical studies diverged into two thematic, contextual directions. The first group of studies was geared towards examining the strategies used in congratulating on happy occasions in the Jordanian context depending either on real-life examples or DCT results. The second group of studies gave special emphasis to congratulations on various happy occasions in non-Jordanian contexts, viz., Iranian, Spanish, Kurdish, Saudi, Malay, Indonesian, Palestinian, Iraqi, Syrian, and Kiswahili based on the findings of either DCTs or naturally occurring data. It is worth mentioning that the last group depends basically on the results of DCTs except for the one conducted by Pishghadam and Moghaddam (2011) in which data were collected from 50 movies for each language under investigation.
3 Methodology
The sample of the study was based on three different posts related to three official Facebook pages viz., The Royal Hashemite Court page[2], the Crown Prince Foundation page,[3] and Queen Rania’s page[4]. The first 200 comments from each post were collected and used as the study sample, a total of 600 comments. It is worth mentioning that all comments, including photos, videos, or emojis alone without any text were excluded. The data were collected using an ethnographic approach by observing the congratulatory posts and comments on the Facebook platform to be categorized and analyzed based on Elwood’s (2004) classification of congratulation strategies and the positive politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987).
As for the data analysis, the first objective was analyzed based on Elwood’s (2004) taxonomy of congratulation strategies and Brown and Levinson’s (1987) positive politeness strategies as shown in Figure 1. The second objective was examined through the lens of Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 103) taxonomy of positive politeness strategies as shown in Figure 2.
Classification of Congratulation Strategies by Elwood (2004).
Classification of Positive Politeness Strategies by Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 102).
Regarding the reliability of the analysis, the initial analysis of the data was performed by the researchers. To ensure the reliability of the data analysis and classification, the researchers invited two linguists, whose first language is Arabic, to review and examine the classified comments, to make sure that the analyzed data matched the used strategies based on Elwood’s (2004) and Brown and Levinson’s (1987) classifications. When discrepancies appeared between the raters, the data were discussed and analyzed together, considering the raters’ perspectives to come up with a reliable agreement. As for ethical considerations, the Facebook posters were kept anonymous and used only for academic purposes.
4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Results and Discussion Related to Question Number One
To help answer this question which dealt with identifying the most congratulation strategies used by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein, the researchers analyzed the 600 comments in light of Elwood’s (2004) taxonomy of congratulations which was discussed in the previous section. Then, the results were presented in frequencies and percentages in a tabular form. Table 1 presents the frequencies and percentages of the congratulation strategies found in the sample collected.
The frequencies and percentages of the strategies used based on Elwood’s (2004) Paradigm
| Rank | Strategy | Fr. | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IFID in combination with other strategies | 296 | 49.33 |
| 2 | IFID | 181 | 30.17 |
| 3 | The OoGW | 64 | 10.67 |
| 4 | Expression of happiness in combination with other strategies | 21 | 3.50 |
| 5 | Expression of happiness (EoH) | 16 | 2.67 |
| 6 | Expression of validation (EoV) | 10 | 1.67 |
| 7 | Utterance of Encouragement (UoE) | 9 | 1.50 |
| 8 | EoV + OoGW | 3 | 0.50 |
| Total | 600 | 100% | |
Fr. Frequencies %: Percentage.
Results of Table 1 indicate that there are eight main strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook users in congratulating Crown Prince Hussein and his bride: IFID in combination with other strategies, IFID, OoGW, expression of happiness combined with other strategies, EoH as a single strategy, EoV, UoE and EoV combined with OoGW. A quick look at this table shows that the overall strategies take two main directions, namely a single strategy and a combined strategy. The following paragraphs present those strategies along with some examples from the sample with their translation.
4.1.1 IFID in Combination with Other Strategies
As shown in Table 1, this combined strategy has scored the highest percentage among the other strategies with a frequency of 296 and a percentage of 49.33. It refers to the use of IFID in combination with different strategies such as the EoH, OoGW, EoV, etc. The examples below show some of the various combinations along with one example for each.
4.1.1.1 IFID + OoGW
The use of IFID represented by “congratulations” along with OoGW by hoping the addressees the best of luck and the best things happen in their future has been used numerous times in the three corpora as presented in the example below. The Facebook users did not only offer congratulations but also extend their comments by adding hope for the new couples to have a new prosperous marriage filled with children.
ألف ألف مبارك وبالرفاه والبنين
“Thousands, thousands of congratulations. Wishing you prosperity and many sons.”
4.1.1.2 IFID + OoGW + EoH
The employment of IFID “congratulations” accompanied by OoGW and EoH strategies is another combined frequently used strategy among the study sample, as shown in the example below. Some Facebook users intended to express their joy by telling how every Jordanian house was happily influenced, by the royal event, while offering congratulations and wishing the couples to stay in eternal happiness. Adding to this, the religious phrase Ma sha’a Allah “As Allah wills” was commonly employed by Facebook users to express their admiration and joy.
الف الف مبروك و ماشاء الله دخل الفرح و البهجة لكل بيوت الاردنيين دايم الفرح و السعد على قلوبكم
“Thousands, thousands of congratulations, what Allah willed, the joy and happiness entered all the Jordanian homes, and may your hearts be always full of happiness and joy.”
4.1.1.3 IFID + OoGW + EoV
The IFID embodied by “congratulations” and OoGW strategies were frequently integrated with the EoV to represent support and admiration for what the addressee is doing. The commenters expressed compliments on how beautiful and elegant the event was and wished them eternal happiness as shown in the below example.
الف مبروك كل شيء كان جميل و راقي ربي يديم فرحتكم
“Thousands of congratulations. Everything was beautiful and elegant, may Allah preserve your happiness.”
4.1.1.4 IFID + EoH
The use of IFID that expresses the direct intention of congratulating the couples, i.e., “congratulations” together with the EoH strategy was implemented by the Facebook users at times, showing their pleasure and joy towards the addressee. In the comment below, the commenter congratulated the Crown Prince by expressing how this event made the Jordanians’ hearts happy and revealed their admiration by describing the Crown Prince as the most handsome.
الف الف مبروك افرحتم قلوبنا بزينة الشباب
“Thousands, thousands of congratulations, you made our hearts happy with the most handsome young man.”
4.1.1.5 IFID + OoGW + EoH + EoV
The combination of the IFID, OoGW, EoH, and EoV strategies in one congratulatory comment was often used to show more excitement and agreement towards the event. In the below example, in addition to congratulating Prince Hussein, the Facebook user started by using the religious phrase Ma sha’a Allah “As Allah wills” to express happiness, then described the wedding as elegant, beautiful, and simple to show validity. Furthermore, the commenter wished them Allah’s blessing and protection.
ما شاء الله رقي وجمال وبساطة الف الف مبروووك الله يهنيهم ببعض ويحميهم أمين
“What Allah willed, elegant, beauty, and simplicity. Thousands, thousands of congratulations, my Allah grace them and protect them, Amen.”
4.1.1.6 IFID + EoH + EoV
The integration of the IFID, EoH, and EoV happened sporadically in the study sample, articulating a sense of joy and agreement. In the congratulatory comment below, the Facebook user revealed his/her happiness using a personification phrase, saying that the Jordanians’ hearts were singing for the beloved groom, and congratulating him and his princess. In addition, for more validation, the commenter expressed that there are no phrases or words that can describe the prince’s beauty.
نبارك اليوم لك سمو الأمير و للاميرة رجوة وتغني وتفرح لك قلوبنا، أنت العريس الغالي على كل القلوب أنت عريس لا تصفه الكلمات ولا تعبر عن جماله العبارات
“We congratulate you today your Highness Prince and Princess Rajwa, and our hearts joy and sing for you, you are the dear groom in every heart, you are the groom which words can not describe, and the expressions can not convey his beauty.”
4.1.1.7 IFID + EoV
The IFID and the EoV were employed in one comment to represent reliable sincerity and encouragement. The congratulatory comment below shows the use of the intensifier “million” with “congratulations” showing assertive expressions, along with revealing more validation by stating that the wedding was legendary and compatible with His Highness the Crown Prince’s position.
مليون مبارك حفل اسطوري يليق بمقامه الرفيع
“Millions of congratulations, a legendary celebration that deserves his dignitary status.”
4.1.2 Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID)
The IFID “congratulations” has scored the second highest strategy among the others. It has registered 181 with a percentage of 30.17. The three corpora showed that this strategy was used regularly and found in many of the congratulatory comments used by Jordanian Facebook users addressed to Prince Hussein’s royal wedding. It was employed in two different forms, مبارك “mubarak” and مبروك"mabrouk.” The two forms “mubarak” and “mabrouk” were rarely used without intensifier expressions, i.e., amplification. They appeared alone only five times in Arabic and three times in English among the study sample. Some Jordanian commenters try to express a stronger sense of excitement by lengthening the vowel “o” in the word مبروك “mabrok” such as مبرووووك “mabrooook,” and the vowel “a” in the word مبارك “mobarak” such as مبااااارك “mobaaaarak” to lengthen the sound of the word to add more emphasis to the congratulatory expression. Moreover, verbal intensifiers such as “thousands and millions” and their repetition were used by the Facebook commenters in an attempt to emphasize their strong positive attitude towards the event. Here are some examples from the three corpora:
مبروووك للعائلة الهاشمية ولكل اهل الأردن
“Congratulations to the Hashemite family and all the Jordanians.”
In this comment, mabroook “congratulations,” the commenter lengthened the vowel “o” to add more emphasis to the congratulatory comment. The commenter tried to reveal his/her excitement by addressing his/her comment to the royal family and all the Jordanian citizens.
الف مليون مبروك لأميرنا المحبوب
“Thousand million of congratulations to our beloved prince.”
The intense phrase “الف مليون” “One thousand million” was used in the above Facebook comment by the participant to reveal his/her strong sense of excitement towards the royal wedding event. Moreover, the commenter tried to express his/her admiration and respect by saying “لأميرنا المحبوب” “to our beloved prince.”
4.1.3 OoGW
The OoGW strategy has appeared in the third rank scoring 64 occurrences with a percentage of 10.67. It refers to hoping the addressee the best of luck and the best things happen in their future. Some commenters used this strategy in the form of wishing such as “نتمنى لأميرنا الغالي” “We wish for our dear prince,” whereas most of the Facebook commenters used this strategy in the form of praying, i.e., supplication such as “بارك الله لهما” “May Allah bless both of them,” or “حفظكم الله ورعاكم” “May Allah protect and bless you.” It is a fact that praying is a religious tradition and a way of communication between a person and in this context Allah in which a person asks Allah for whatever he/she wishes in formal and informal ways as well as any spontaneous ways using the person’s own wording. Therefore, in such a strategy the Jordanians responded spontaneously to this royal event and expressed their good wishes for the couple in this religious way. The following examples provide relevant analysis:
بارك الله لكما وبارك عليكما وجمع بينكما في خير
“May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good.”
In this comment, the commenter used the Prophet Mohammad’s (peace be upon him) saying when congratulating newlyweds “May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good (works)” (Solutions n.d). The commenter used this religious saying to show their enthusiasm and belief in Allah’s blessings.
4.1.4 EoH in Combination with Other Strategies
This combined strategy has been employed 21 times with a percentage of 3.50% among the three corpora. It refers to the use of EoH in combination with other strategies such as OoGW, EoV, and the EoH combination with OoGW and EoV. Some of these diverse combinations are shown and discussed, along with real examples.
4.1.4.1 EoH + OoGW
The use of the expression of happiness strategy accompanied with OoGW was occasionally employed to express a sense of joy and happiness, along with hoping the addressees the best of luck and the best things would happen in their future. In the comment below, the Facebook user used the religious phrase Ma sha’a Allah “As Allah wills,” which is mainly used to express happiness and admiration followed by a wish asking Allah’s blessing for eternal happiness and joy in every home.
ما شاء الله تبارك الله الله يبارك ربنا يديم الفرح في كل البيوت يارب
“What Allah willed, Allah bless, may Allah bless, may Allah sustain happiness in every home.”
4.1.4.2 EoH + EoV
The expression of happiness and the expression of validity congratulation strategies were used together in one comment to express joy and represent sincere support and satisfaction. In the provided example, the commenter revealed his/her happiness using the religious phrase Ma sha’a Allah “As Allah wills,” and expressed his/her agreement and validation by stating that the wedding was very beautiful.
مشاء الله الفرح كان جميل جدا
“What Allah willed, the celebration was very beautiful.”
4.1.4.3 EoH + OoGW + EoV
The implementation of the EoH, OoGW, and EoV strategies were used together in a few comments. The example below shows that the Facebook user started the comment by wishing the royal family Allah’s blessing for their happy occasions and praying to be eternal. Then the commenter revealed their agreement and reinforcement, explaining that the royal wedding event represents originality, elegance, and simplicity, followed by thanking the royal family for making them happy.
بارك الله افراحكم وجعلها عامرة. فرح يختزن الاصالة والرقي والبساطة. شكرا لكم لقد افرحتونا
“May Allah bless your happy occasions and make them luxuriant. A celebration that holds originality, elegance, and simplicity. Thank you, you made us happy.”
4.1.5 EoH
The expression of happiness strategy refers to expressing joy and happiness toward the happy event. The descriptive method was frequently used to fulfill this strategy, where the commenter expressed their emotional attitudes toward the royal wedding. Furthermore, the religious phrase Ma sha’a Allah “As Allah wills” was commonly employed by Facebook users to express their admiration, joy, and astonishment. The below examples provide relevant analysis:
أجمل فرحة بالكون
“The happiest celebration in the globe.”
This expression is often uttered to show the recipient how much happiness and joy the speaker has towards that specific event. Therefore, this comment was used by a commenter to reveal his/her joy and happiness towards the royal wedding.
4.1.6 EoV
This strategy has scored 10 occurrences with a low percentage of 1.67. This strategy represents sincere support and reinforcement addressed to the recipient as a kind of encouragement and validation. This strategy was implemented by Facebook commenters while talking about the royal wedding celebration using the phrase حفل Hafel “celebration,” or the phrase حفل زفاف hafel zafaf “wedding celebration,” showing their belongings and embracing Prince Hussein’s wedding by revealing their admiration for the royal celebration. The following examples provide more analysis:
حفل اسطوري سيذكر لأجيال لاحقة وتذكره الأحفاد على مر السنين.
“A legendary celebration that will be remembered for generations, and narrated by the grandchildren for years.”
The commenter used a hyperbolic descriptive expression when using the phrase “حفل اسطوري” “legendary,” representing a high level of validation of the extraordinary royal wedding celebration.
4.1.7 UoE
The utterance of encouragement strategy involves expressions used by the speaker to encourage the addressee to continue doing the good thing. Results of Table 1 show that this strategy has registered 9 frequencies with a percentage of 1.50%. Regarding the study sample, it was found that some Jordanians exploited this happy event to encourage the king of the country to issue a general amnesty for the benefit of some ineffective offenses such as political prisoners or traffic offenders. Here are some examples from the study sample:
فرحونا بي العفو العام
“Make us happy with a general amnesty.”
In this comment, the Facebook user tries to encourage the authorities to issue the general amnesty by telling them “Make us happy.”
4.1.8 EoV + OoGW
The combination of the use of the expression of validation and the OoGW has scored the lowest frequencies in the study sample with a percentage of 0.50 and three occurrences. This combination aims to represent honest agreement and support as well as a sincere hope of the best wishes for the addressees for showing earnest expressions. The following examples provide relevant analysis:
بارك الله لهما وبارك عليهما وجمع بينهما في خير..قمه في الرقي
“May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good. A pinnacle of grace.”
In this congratulatory comment, the Facebook user used the Prophet Mohammad’s (peace be upon him) saying when congratulating newlyweds, which is associated with the OoGW strategy, followed by an assertive expression describing the event as classy and elegant to represent agreement and admiration.
To sum up, the analysis leads to classifying the 600 congratulatory comments into eight different congratulatory strategies utilized by Jordanian Facebook users, with different frequencies. The findings showed that the most three implemented congratulation strategies were the use of IFID in combination with other congratulation strategies with 296 comments, which represents 49.33% of the total comments in the three corpora. The use of IFID, mostly with intensifiers has scored 181 frequencies representing 30.17%, followed by the OoGW strategy, which gained the third rank with 64 comments representing 10.67%.
Various interpretations are attributed to these results. Firstly, it was expected that the expression “مبروك” “Congratulations” would be used more frequently than the other expressions. However, the influence of the Crown Prince’s royal wedding motivated Jordanian Facebook users to elaborate more and explain in greater detail to express their joy and happiness in their comments. Through intensive analysis of the congratulatory comments, the researchers realized that the influence of the Jordanian culture compels both those offering congratulations and the recipients to expect more than simply saying “مبروك, مبارك” “congratulations” to validate their emotions sincerely. Considering detailed expressions or intensifiers is often necessary to reveal heartfelt congratulations; otherwise, the expression may be interpreted as an insincere compliment. The dominant incentive for most Jordanian Facebook commenters during the royal wedding event was to express their admiration, validation, and happiness, which encouraged them to describe their expressions in detail. Moreover, the Facebook platform provides valuable opportunities to convey and elaborate more than what verbal speech acts can express.
This result is in line with those of Al-Shboul et al. (2022), who analyzed the congratulation strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook users addressed to King Abdullah II on his 60th birthday occasion and found that the IFID strategy was the most used. However, after an extensive study of his research findings, it was found that the researchers divided the congratulatory comments into segments to identify the most frequent strategies the Facebookers focused on and did not consider the comments as a whole. Therefore, most Jordanian commenters were still more satisfied with expressing extended congratulatory comments and employing multiple strategies primarily during royal happy events.
Secondly, the OoGW congratulation strategy, hoping the addressees the best of luck and positive outcomes in their future, was significantly influenced by cultural and religious norms rooted in Jordanian traditions. It was observed that utilizing the invocation of Allah and religious phrases were prominent among the Facebook comments when offering a good wish; such as “الله يسعدهم” (May Allah endow you with happiness), “حفظهم الله” (May Allah protect them), “بارك الله لكما وبارك عليكما وجمع بينكم في خير” (May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good). Moreover, traditional expressions were also employed for the same purpose; such as “بيتكم عامر بالافراح” (Your home is teeming with happiness), “بالرفاه والبنين” (Wishing you prosperity and many sons). The frequent use of the invocation of Allah and traditional expressions by Facebook users is attributed to Jordanian society being a conservative religious society. This result supports those of Dastjerdi and Nasri (2012) whose findings revealed that OoGW has been in the third rank.
Finally, the royal wedding event necessitates Jordanian Facebook users to avoid using some congratulation strategies usually implemented in common traditional happy events, such as requesting information, expressing surprise, asking for sweets, expressing envy, etc. This is due to the utmost formality and the popularity of Prince Hussein’s royal wedding event. This result lends support to those of Al-Shboul and Huwari (2016), Mahzari (2017), Muhammad Irahim and Abu Bakar (2020), and Aziz (2023) whose results proved that the such informal ways of congratulations are completely absent in their studies. The findings duplicate those of Wardat and Alkhateeb (2020) who proved that Syrian residents in Jordan neither ask about private concerns nor make jokes concerning politeness when they offer their congratulations.
4.2 Results and Discussion Related to Question Number Two
To answer this question which aims to identify the most politeness strategies used by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein, the researchers analyzed the 600 comments based on Brown and Levinson’s classification (1987) of politeness strategies. Then, the results were presented in frequencies and percentages in a tabular form. Table 2 presents the frequencies and percentages of the strategies found in the sample collected.
The frequencies and percentages of the positive politeness strategies used based on Brown and Levinson’s Classification (1987)
| Rank | Positive politeness strategies | Fr. | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intensify interest to the hearer in combination with other strategies | 188 | 31.33 |
| 2 | Give gifts to the hearer | 175 | 29.17 |
| 3 | Intensify interest to the hearer | 143 | 23.83 |
| 4 | Notice, attend to H (his interests, wants, needs, goods) | 37 | 6.17 |
| 5 | Give gifts to the hearer in combination with other strategies | 22 | 3.67 |
| 6 | Seek agreement | 15 | 2.5 |
| 7 | Be optimistic | 11 | 1.83 |
| 8 | Use in-group identity markers | 5 | 0.83 |
| 9 | Exaggerate (Interest, approval, sympathy with the listener) | 4 | 0.67 |
| Total | 600 | 100% | |
Fr. Frequencies %: Percentage.
Results of Table 2 indicate that there are nine main politeness strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook Users in congratulating Crown Prince Hussein and his bride: intensifying interest to the hearer in combination with other strategies, giving gifts to the hearer, intensifying interest to the hearer, noticing, attending to H (his interests, wants, needs, goods), giving gifts to the hearer in combination with other strategies, seek agreement, being optimistic, using in-group identity markers and exaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with the listener). The following paragraphs present those positive politeness strategies along with some examples from the sample with their translation.
4.2.1 Intensify Interest to the Hearer in Combination with Other Strategies
As shown in Table 2, this combined positive politeness strategy has scored the highest percentage 31.33% among the other strategies with a frequency of 188. It refers to the use of intensifying interest to the hearer, which emphasizes the dedication of the speaker’s intentions and interest, in combination with different strategies such as the exaggeration strategy, using in-group identity markers, seeking agreement, being optimistic, and giving gifts to the hearer. The examples below show some of the various combinations along with one example for each.
4.2.1.1 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Give Gifts to the Hearer
The use of intensifying interest to the hearer as a positive politeness strategy along with giving gifts to the hearer in the form of caring and admiration has been given the forefront among other combinations. This strategy is represented by “congratulations” and hoping the addressees the best wishes and the greatest things happen in the future as presented in the example below. Facebook users offer congratulations to Prince Hussein accompanied by the intensifiers thousand and million to reveal a sense of excitement followed by a wish from Allah to bless their wedding and to be blessed with good children.
الف الف مليون مبروك ربنا يتمم على خير يا ولي العهد الأمير حسين الغالي ويرزقكم بالذرية الصالحة يارب العالمين
“Thousand, thousand million congratulations, may Allah complete the marriage with goodness honored Crown Prince Hussein, and may Allah bless you with good offspring.”
4.2.1.2 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Seek Agreement
The use of intensifying interest to the hearer strategy together with the seeking agreement strategy aims to reveal the speaker’s admiration and endorsement towards the addressee’s action to satisfy their desire. The Jordanian Facebook commenters used these combined strategies to expose their entire agreement with the wedding style as they commented that it represents beauty and elegance and they wished that happiness would always remain in Jordan.
الف الف مبااااارك ..جمال و اناقة ربي يديم الافرااح على الاردن
“Thousand, thousand congratulations, may Allah sustain the happiness in Jordan.”
4.2.1.3 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Give Gifts to the Hearer + Use In-Group Identity Markers
The politeness strategies of intensifying interest to the hearer and giving gifts to the hearer were implemented along with using in-group identity markers strategy. This in-group identity marker indicates the speaker’s belonging to the hearer, with the purpose of showing the speaker’s connection to the hearer by using the first personal pronouns aligned with the great sense of truthful happiness and agreement. In the example below, the Facebook user intensively congratulated Prince Hussein and his bride saying “our prince and our princess” showing their affiliation, then wished them to have a blessed wedding and join them in wellness.
الف الف الف الف مبروك اميرنا واميرتنا الغوالي اللهم بارك لهما وبارك عليهما واجمع بينهما بالخير والبركة
“Thousands, thousands, thousands, thousands of congratulations to our beloved prince and our princess, May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good.”
4.2.1.4 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Give Gifts to the Hearer + Seek Agreement
The amalgamation of intensifying interest to the hearer along with giving gifts to the hearer and seeking agreement was applied to highly congratulate and satisfy the hearer’s desire. In the below Facebooker comment, the user expresses his/her admiration and joy, prays to the newlyweds to be blessed and protected, details that the addressees are humble and elegant kings, and wishes them the continuous of the happiness.
بسم الله ماشاء الله تبارك الله ربنا يبارك فيكم ويحفظكم مليون مبروك يا ملوك التواضع والرقي دامت الأفراح في كل المملكه الاردنية الهاشمية
“In the name of Allah, what Allah willed, May Allah bless and protect you, a million of congratulations, you the kings of humility and dignity, may the joy and happiness last in the entire Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.”
4.2.1.5 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Be Optimistic
Another combination of two strategies appeared in the sample, which refers to the use of intensifying interest to the hearer strategy attached to being optimistic politeness strategy. This combination was utilized to reveal the same interests of the addressee and to encourage them to take a beneficial action through sincere congratulations. In the comment below the commenter expresses intensive congratulations, wishes the king Allah’s protection, confirms their happiness, and emphasizes that their happiness would be fulfilled by announcing a general amnesty. This might be due to the fact that Jordanians usually expect such amnesty during official occasions especially those related to the royal family.
الف الف الف الف مبروك الله يحفظكم يا سيدنا ابوحسين والله افرحنا ويا ريت اتكمل فرحتنا بلعفو
“Thousands, thousands, thousands, thousands of congratulations, may Allah protect you our master, Abu Hussein, swear to Allah we are filled with happiness, and our happiness will be completed with a general amnesty.”
4.2.1.6 Intensify Interest to the Hearer + Exaggerate (Interest, Approval, Sympathy with the Listener)
The integration of intensifying interest to the hearer as a politeness strategy and the exaggeration strategy articulates the strength of commitment through congratulating the addressee and overstating expressions for the approval and the interest of the listener. In the comment below, the Facebook user shows his/her intense admiration using the phrase “ma shaa’ Allah,” expressing intensive congratulations, then describing the event as a global wedding, which reflects the traditions and heritage of Jordan. This is to demonstrate the vast impact of the event.
ماشاء الله تبارك الرحمن ألف مليون مبروك عرس عالمى يعكس تقاليد وتراث الأردن الغالية دمتم فى أفضل حال
“What Allah willed, a thousand million congratulations, a global wedding which reflects the traditions and the heritage of loved Jordan, wish you all the best.”
4.2.2 Give Gifts to the Hearer
Giving gifts to the hearer politeness strategy has scored the second highest strategy with 175 occurrences and 29.17%. This strategy indicates the feelings of satisfaction that the speaker tries to convey by showing admiration, caring, and offering congratulations. The following examples provide relevant analysis:
مبارك للسادة الامراء والسيدات الاميرات من الاسرة الهاشمية هذه الفرحة الكبيرة.
“Congratulations to the princes and princesses of the Hashemite family on this great happiness.”
In this congratulatory comment, the Facebook user offered congratulations to the whole royal family on Prince Hussein’s wedding event, aiming to share the happiness that all the family feels and reflecting on the value of the royal wedding, which is considered a collective event.
مبارك زفاف الأمير الحسين والأميرة رجوة، بارك الله لهما وبارك عليهما وجمع بينهما في خير
“Congratulations on the wedding of Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa, May Allah bless for you, and may He bless on you, and combine both of you in good.”
This congratulatory comment represents a sense of excitement towards Prince Hussein and his bride by congratulating both of them and using the saying of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), praying for Allah’s blessing for the newlyweds.
4.2.3 Intensify Interest to the Hearer
Intensifying interest to the hearer as a positive politeness strategy emphasizes the dedication of the speaker’s intentions and interests. This strategy has scored the third rank with frequencies of 149 and a percentage of 24.83%. It was implemented by Jordanian Facebook users to show their great sense of truthful happiness and agreement with Prince Hussein’s royal celebration. Here are some examples from the study sample:
الف الف الف مبااااارك لسمو ولي العهد الأمير حسين ولسمو الأميرة رجوة الحسين
“Thousand, thousand, thousand of congratulations for His Highness Crown Prince Hussein and Her Highness Princess Rajwa Al-Hussein.”
In this example, the commenter repeated the intensifier number “الف” “One thousand,” three times and lengthened the vowel “a” in the word مبااااارك “mobaaaarak” to demonstrate a strong sense of admiration and excitement for Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Al-Saif.
4.2.4 Notice, Attend to H (his Interests, Wants, Needs, Goods)
This politeness strategy has appeared 37 times in the sample with a percentage of 6.17%. It refers to the speaker’s gratitude for something good about the hearer to make the hearer feel pleased. This politeness strategy was frequently used by Facebookers during Prince Hussein’s royal wedding event to express their appreciation and respect for the royal event. The following examples provide more analysis:
روعة قمه في الرقي والاناقة والبساطة الله يحفضهم وزواج مبارك إن شاء الله
“Amazing, a pinnacle of sophistication, elegance, and simplicity, may Allah protect them and bless their marriage.”
The Facebook user used this comment to express his/her admiration and appreciation for the elegance, and simplicity of the royal wedding event. The commenter stated that the royal event was amazing, a pinnacle of elegance, and simple. Furthermore, the commenter wished the newlyweds a blessed marriage.
4.2.5 Give Gifts to the Hearer in Combination with Other Strategies
This combined politeness strategy was employed 17 times with a percentage of 2.84% among the three corpora. It refers to the use of giving gifts (not exactly a physical gift) to the hearer in combination with other strategies such as noticing, attending to H (his interests, wants, needs, and goods), and using in-group identity markers) politeness strategies. The paragraphs below present some of these diverse combinations along with real examples from the corpora.
4.2.5.1 Give Gifts to the Hearer + Notice, Attend to H (his Interests, Wants, Needs, Goods)
The combination of giving gifts to the hearer along with the noticing, and attending to the hearer politeness strategy refers to the gratification the speaker attempts to reveal by showing admiration and offering congratulations as well as their appreciation for something good about the hearer to make them feel pleased. In the below comment, the Facebooker intensively congratulated the newlyweds and tried to please them by detailing that the wedding was luxurious, elegant, and humble. Furthermore, the commenter wished the newlyweds happiness and prosperity filled with children.
الف الف مبروووك...مبارك للعروسين ماشالله الفخامة والاناقة والتواضع الله يسعدكم. بالرفاه والبنين ان شاءالله
“Thousand, thousand of congratulations, congratulations to the newlyweds, what Allah willed, the luxury, elegance, and humility. May Allah endow you with happiness. Wishing you prosperity and many sons.”
4.2.5.2 Give Gifts to the Hearer + Use in-Group Identity Markers
Giving gifts to the hearer and using in-group identity markers politeness strategies were used together in one comment to reveal the speaker’s satisfaction and to indicate their belonging to the hearer. In the below congratulatory comment, the Facebook user attempts to prove his/her affiliation with the royal event by using the first personal pronoun “our” “our leader” and “symbol of our pride,” and wishes that Jordan’s days be brightened with happiness.
مبارك قرة عين قائدنا ورمز عزتنا جلالة الملك عبدالله الثاني وجعل الله أيام الاردن أفراح ومسرات.
“Congratulations to the apple of our leader’s eye and the symbol of our pride, His Majesty King Abdullah the Second, and may Allah brighten Jordan’s days with happiness.”
4.2.6 Seek Agreement
Seeking agreement refers to expressing the way the speaker looks to satisfy the hearer’s opinion and desire. Results of Table 2 show that this politeness strategy has registered 15 frequencies with a low percentage of 2.5%. Regarding the study sample, it was found that the Jordanians employed this strategy to demonstrate their complete agreement with the royal wedding event, and this in return satisfies the queen’s desire for this happy occasion. The following examples deliver relevant analysis:
مبارك سيدتي الملكة رانيا العبدالله زواج الامير حسين...شكرا لانك فرحتينا.
شكرا لانك حسستينا ان البيت واحد.. وعشنا الفرحة بكل تفاصيلها..
شكرا بتمسككي لعاداتنا وتقاليدنا وعراقتنا..
شكرا للصورة التي رسمتيها ونقلتيها للعالم أجمع عن الأردنيين.. هذا دليل قاطع لفخركي واعتزازكي وحبكي لاهلكي وشعبك الاردني..
“Congratulations, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah on the marriage of Prince Hussein…Thanks for making us happy.
Thanks for making us feel that we are one family… and we lived all the details of happiness.
Thanks for your dedication to our traditions, customs, and heritage.
Thanks for the bright picture you revealed to the whole world about the Jordanians. This is strong evidence of your pride, honor, and love for your family and your Jordanian people.”
This congratulatory comment was addressed to Queen Rania, the Facebook user revealed his/her full agreement, thanking the Queen for making them happy by highlighting her dedication to traditions and heritage during the royal wedding and the bright picture of Jordanians presented to the world.
4.2.7 Be Optimistic
Being optimistic as a positive politeness strategy involves expressions used by the speaker to predict the best for the hearer as they share the same interests and encourage them to do a beneficial action through sincere congratulations. This strategy has scored very little occurrences of 11 times in the three corpora and a percentage of 1.83%. Facebook users employed this politeness strategy to express their joy and happiness and encourage and wish the authorities to issue a general amnesty. The following examples provide more analysis:
الف مبروك وعقبال العفو العام
“Thousand of congratulations and may a general amnesty be issued.”
In this congratulatory comment, the commenter employed the strategy of being optimistic politeness strategy by revealing their congratulatory expressions and their wishes for issuing a general amnesty.
4.2.8 Use In-Group Identity Markers
Using in-group identity markers as a politeness strategy was spontaneously used by a very little number of Jordanian Facebook users to indicate their belonging to the royal event and express their joy and greetings for the couple. This strategy was employed solely five times with a very low percentage of 0.83% among the study sample. The below examples provide relevant analysis:
دايم فرحنا دايم بكم سيدنا
“Our happiness is always continual, Your Majesty.”
In the below congratulatory comment, the commenter tries to prove his/her inclusion in the royal event by using the first personal pronoun “our” “our happiness.”
4.2.9 Exaggerate (Interest, Approval, Sympathy with the Listener)
The exaggerate politeness strategy was implemented four times in the three corpora with the lowest percentage of 0.67% to reveal the speakers' excitement and enthusiasm toward the happy events by hyperbolizing their expressions and emotions for the approval and the interest of the listener. Here are some examples:
اجمل فرحة بالكون
“The most delightful happiness in the universe.”
In this comment, the commenter employed the Exaggerate politeness strategy to inform that this royal wedding celebration was the most delightful happiness in this world.
To sum up, this section was dedicated to investigating the most frequently used politeness strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal wedding of Prince Hussein. Based on Brown and Levinson’s classification (1987) of politeness strategies, the results demonstrated that the most frequently used strategies were directed toward nine politeness strategies with different frequencies. Moreover, the results showed that the most frequently used strategy is intensifying interest to the hearer in combination with other politeness strategies with 188 comments, which represents 31.33% of the total comments in the three corpora. The corpus data revealed that the use of giving gifts to the hearer politeness strategy has scored the second highest strategy with 175 occurrences and a percentage of 27.17%. Moreover, intensifying interest to the hearer as a single strategy has frequently appeared 149 times with a percentage of 24.83%. The results conclude that the exaggerate (Interest, approval, sympathy with the listener) in addition to using in-group identity markers have recorded the lowest frequencies among these politeness strategies. However, some strategies in Brown and Levinson’s classification have no presence at all in the three corpora such as jokes, offer, promise, and presupposing common background, just to mention a few.
To summarize, the results indicated that the most used politeness strategy was intensifying interest to the hearer, which emphasizes the dedication of the speaker’s intentions and interest, in combination with other politeness strategies with 188 comments, which represents 31.33% of the total comments in the three corpora, followed by giving gifts to the hearer, with 175 frequencies representing 29.17%, and intensifying interest to the hearer as a single politeness strategy in the third rank with 143 comments representing 23.83%.
Various interpretations might be attributed to these results. First, caring and admiration were the dominant features that most Jordanian Facebook users considered to show their great sense of truthful happiness and agreement in their comments addressed to Prince Hussein and his bride during their royal wedding. The employment of the intensifying interest to the hearer politeness strategy, represented by ‘congratulations” with intensifiers, in combination with other politeness strategies such as the seek agreement strategy, exaggeration, using in-group identity markers, and being optimistic, was very encouraging for Jordanian Facebook users to elaborate and develop their congratulatory comments to reveal their sincere sense of excitement and strength of commitment towards the Prince Hussein’s royal wedding. To achieve this sense, Jordanian Facebook users attempt to intensify their congratulatory comments when saying “مبروك” (congratulations) by using numeral expressions such as (thousand or million), or by lengthening the vowel “و” (o) to be “مبروووك” (Mabroook) and the vowel “ا’” (a) to be “مبااااارك” (Mobaaaarak) along with showing their agreement with the royal wedding event and its style when saying for example “اجمل وافخم زفاف’” (the most beautiful and luxurious wedding).
Considering Prince Hussien’s royal wedding a national celebration leads Facebook users to assert their belonging and affiliation. They employed the combination of the intensified interest in the hearer along with the in-group identity markers politeness strategies when using the first personal pronouns within their comments when saying for example: “اميرنا واميرتنا” (our prince and our princess), “ولي عهدنا المحبوب” (our beloved Crown Prince).
For the same purpose, exaggeration was also utilized when saying “حفل عالمي” (International celebration) or “حفل اسطوري” (Legendary celebration). Furthermore, some Facebook users were very confident and optimistic based on the same consideration asking for a general amnesty when saying “الف مبروك وعقبال العفو العام” (One thousand congratulations, make us happy with the general amnesty) or “ويا ريت اتكمل فرحتنا بلعفو” (wish that our happiness will be completed with the general amnesty).
Secondly, the use of the give gifts to the hearer politeness strategy was the second most employed strategy. This strategy was implemented by Jordanian Facebook users in the form of caring, admiration, and offering congratulations to show their honest feelings of happiness and satisfaction and wish Prince Hussien and his bride the best for their future. It was observed that religious factors had a dominant influence when offering congratulations, and the phrase ‘ما شاء الله” (What Allah willed) was frequently used to demonstrate greater admiration. Examples included “مبارك ما شاء الله” (congratulations, What Allah willed) or “ما شاء الله الله يتمم على خير” (What Allah willed, may Allah complete it with goodness). Additionally, sayings of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) for congratulating newlyweds and the invocation of Allah were commonly employed to congratulate Prince Hussein and his bride and wish them the best.
Finally, 23.83% of Jordanian Facebook users employed the intensifying interest to the hearer as a single politeness strategy. The commenters intensely congratulated the addressees and often mentioned their names without further elaboration, aiming to demonstrate their strong sense of dedication and interest.
However, it is important to note that the current study has certain limitations. Firstly, these findings may not be generalizable beyond the specific context of Prince Hussein’s royal wedding. The formality and significance of this event, along with its national importance, may not reflect typical congratulatory practices in more casual or personal settings. Secondly, the study has ignored gender as an important variable that affects Facebook comments. Therefore, future research might be conducted to examine gender as a social variable. The study also aligns with Bayo and Mark’s (2023) findings, which suggest that Facebook users tend to employ positive politeness strategies such as giving gifts to the listener and attending to their interests.
Furthermore, the use of “formality” throughout this analysis requires a more critical examination. The royal wedding, as a national celebration, influenced the language used by Facebook users, particularly regarding power dynamics and social distance. The linguistic choices reflect the respect and reverence for the royal family, suggesting that the status divergence between the speakers and the addressees impacted the formality and tone of the congratulatory messages. These factors should be explored further in future studies to understand the relationship between formality, power, and politeness in social media interactions.
The results of the current study are distinct from Al-Shboul et al.’s (2022) study, which aimed to analyze politeness strategies addressed to King Abdullah II on his 60th birthday to reveal that giving gifts to the hearer was the most used politeness strategy, followed by the in-group identity markers. Culturally, since birthday occasions are anniversaries, respondents usually express their best wishes to the addresses as they age. Additionally, since birthdays are considered annual and recurring, they may elicit routinely and formulaic expressions. On the contrary, marriage events have always been considered achievements that deserve intensive congratulations as they commonly happen once in a lifetime and are widely celebrated with large gatherings. Therefore, weddings may carry special and unique cultural and social significance that birthday celebrations may not. On the other hand, the results of the current study are partially consistent with those of Bayo and Mark’s (2023) whose results proved that Facebook users tend to resort mainly to three positive politeness strategies, namely giving gifts to a listener, including the speaker and hearer in the activity and noticing and attending to hearer’s interests, wants and needs.
5 Conclusion
This study sought to analyze congratulation speech acts of Jordanian Facebook users during His Highness Prince Hussein’s royal wedding event by investigating the most frequently used congratulation strategies, in light of Elwood’s (2004) taxonomy of congratulations. It also aimed at identifying the types of politeness strategies they employed, based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) classification of politeness strategies. The overall analysis revealed that the respondents’ choice of strategies was consistently influenced by cultural, traditional, and religious factors, considering the degree of formality of the happy events. This means that one has to be mindful of different social factors when responding to such royal events. Moreover, the status divergence between the respondents and the addressees plays a critical role in the level of linguistic register.
During Prince Hussein’s royal wedding event, the majority of Jordanian Facebook users were motivated to express admiration, validation, and agreement to reveal their sincere concern, which drove most of them to elaborate more in their congratulatory comments. Generally, the Facebook platform provides opportunities for more detailed expressions than verbal speech acts can do. In light of Elwood’s (2004) taxonomy of congratulations, the results revealed that the IFID, represented by “congratulations,” in combination with other congratulation strategies, scored the highest frequency of the total comments employed by Jordanian Facebook users during Prince Hussein’s royal wedding event. The second most used congratulation strategy was the IFID without elaboration, followed by the OoGW congratulation strategy.
Based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) classification of politeness strategies, the findings showed that the most used politeness strategy by Jordanian Facebook users was intensifying interest in the hearer in combination with other politeness strategies, followed by giving gifts to the hearer and intensifying interest to the hearer as a single politeness strategy. Some congratulation strategies, such as requesting information, joking, expressing surprise, blaming, and asking for sweets, were avoided by Jordanian Facebook users during the royal event because of the high level of formality, social distance, and popularity of the event.
Finally, religious and cultural expressions were commonly integrated into the congratulatory comments, reflecting the strong influence of religion and cultural values within Jordanian society. These findings highlight the significance of cultural and social norms in shaping the way congratulations are expressed in formal, culturally important contexts.
-
Funding information: The authors state no funding involved.
-
Author contributions: Conceptualization: S.S and A.H.; Methodology: S.S, K.L., RB. Analysis: S.S., A.H., K.L and R.B. Writing Draft: A.H., and S.S. Reviewing and Editing: K.L and R.B.
-
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
-
Data availability statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Abumariam, A., & Qandeel, N. (2023). Burnout degree among sign language interpreters in Jordan and its relationship to levels of experience and self-concept. Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies, 26(2), 151–172. doi: 10.35875/1105-026-002-009.Search in Google Scholar
Abusaleh, S., Arabasy, M., Abukeshek, M., Qarem, T., & Nuaimat, A. (2024). Impacts of e-learning on the efficiency of interior design education (A comparative study about the efficiency of interior design education before and during the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic). Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies, 27(1), 47–63. doi: 10.35875/1105.027.001.004.Search in Google Scholar
Adwan, A., & Altrjman, G. (2024). The role of social media marketing and marketing management promoting and developing brand sustainability strategy. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 8(1), 439–452. doi: 10.5267/j.ijdns.2023.9.011.Search in Google Scholar
Al Mwadiah, R. (2019). The effect of linguistic games on improving linguistic communication skills of kindergartens in Jordan. Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies, 22(1), 81–90. doi: 10.35875/1105-022-001-005.Search in Google Scholar
Al-Adwan, A. S., Albelbisi, N. A., Aladwan, S. H., Horani, O., Al-Madadha, A., & Khasawneh, M. H. A. (2020). Investigating the impact of social media use on student’s perception of academic performance in higher education: Evidence from Jordan. Journal of Information Technology Education Research, 19, 953–975. doi: 10.28945/4661.Search in Google Scholar
Al-Qudah, M. A. (2001). Congratulation patterns on happy occasions in Jordan. (Unpublished MA thesis). Yarmouk University.Search in Google Scholar
Al-Sayyed, S., & Rabab’ah, G. (2020). Email greeting and farewell formulas in English and Arabic: A contrastive study. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 14(5), 267–291.Search in Google Scholar
Al-Shboul, Y., Al-Daher, Z., Al-Dala'ien, A., & Abu-Snoubar, K. (2022). Congratulation strategies by Jordanians on a Royal Birthday Facebook status. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 13(5), 1097–1104. https://jltr.academypublication.com/index.php/jltr/article/view/4013/3323.10.17507/jltr.1305.24Search in Google Scholar
Al-Shboul, Y., & Huwari, F. (2016). Congratulation strategies of Jordanian EFL postgraduate students. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(1), 79. doi: 10.17509/ijal.v6i1.2664.Search in Google Scholar
Allami, H., & Nekouzadeh, M. (2011). Congratulation and positive politeness strategies in Iranian context. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(11), 1607–1613. doi: 10.4304/tpls.1.11.1607-1613.Search in Google Scholar
Almommani, O. (2024). Navigating the gray zone: When interpreters become mediators and communication facilitators. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 15(4), 1372–1380. doi: 10.17507/jltr.1504.35.Search in Google Scholar
Amayreh, H., & Amayreh, M. (2020). Linguistic branching of semantics in Arabic: A social approach. Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies, 23(2), 147–156. doi: 10.35875/1105-023-002-012.Search in Google Scholar
Ammari, R., Al-Mahameed, Y., Al Ahmad, W., & Al Bataineh, K. (2024). Congratulation! A case study of social media users in Jordan. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies. 24(1), 317–340. doi: 10.33806/ijaes.v24i1.564.Search in Google Scholar
Austin, L. (1962). How to do things with words: The William James lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955. Harvard Univ Press. https://silverbronzo.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/austin-how-to-do-things-with-words-1962.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Aziz, R. N. (2023, December 18). Congratulation strategies: Pragmatic study - eajournals.org. www.eajournals.org. https://eajournals.org/bjel/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2023/12/Congratulation-Strategies.pdf.10.37745/bjel.2013/vol12n118Search in Google Scholar
Bayo, P., & Mark, B. (2023, November 3). Analysis of congratulation strategies by Swahili speakers in response to happy occasions on Facebook status updates. East African Journal of Education and Social Sciences,4(4), 97–104. doi: 10.46606/eajess2023v04i04.0307.Search in Google Scholar
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511813085Search in Google Scholar
Crown Prince Foundation. (n.d.). About our foundation. https://cpf.jo/%d8%b9%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a4%d8%b3%d8%b3%d8%a9/.Search in Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (2008). Txtng: The gr8 db8. (E. McLachlan, Illustrator). Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dastjerdi, V., & Nasri, N. (2012). Congratulation speech acts across cultures: The case of English, Persian, and Arabic. Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation, 1(20), 97–116. https://lct.shahreza.iau.ir/article_551894_f8835022a9591bb8eeff962e22a1c5d3.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Din, S. U., Khusro, S., Khan, F. A., Ahmad, M., Ali, O., & Ghazal, T. M. (2025). An automatic approach for the identification of offensive language in Perso-Arabic Urdu language: Dataset creation and evaluation. IEEE Access, 13, 19755–19769. doi: 10.1109/access.2025.3534662.Search in Google Scholar
Domaneschi, F., & Bambini, V. (2020, February 3). Pragmatic competence. Springer. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/q8msa.Search in Google Scholar
Elwood, K. (2004). Congratulations!: A cross-cultural analysis of responses to another's happy news. CiNii Research. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050001202459890816.Search in Google Scholar
Eshreteh, M. K. (2020). The speech act of congratulation and positive politeness strategies: A study of comments on Facebook posts by Palestinians. Mu'tah Lil-Buhuth Wad-Dirasat, Humanities and Social Sciences Series, 35(4), 51–73. doi: 10.35682/0062-035-004-010.Search in Google Scholar
Ewaida, B. (2022). The status of Arabic language in the social media (Challenges and proposals): Facebook as a case study. Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies, 25(1), 93–112. doi: 10.35875/1105-025-001-006.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (2003). On language and linguistics. (Collected works of M.A.K. Halliday). Continuum. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/974044.Search in Google Scholar
Hamdan, J., & Sayyed, S. (2022, January 6). Strategies of Facebook users in offering condolences on a death anniversary: A case study from Jordan. First Monday, 27(2), 1–14. doi: 10.5210/fm.v27i2.11502.Search in Google Scholar
Hoffmann, C. R., & Bublitz, W. (2017). Pragmatics of social media. De Gruyter eBooks. doi: 10.1515/9783110431070.Search in Google Scholar
Hymes, D. H. (1972). On communicative competence. In: J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics. Selected readings (pp. 269–293). Penguin.Search in Google Scholar
Krämer, S. (2015). Medium, messenger, transmission: An approach to media philosophy. Amsterdam University Press.10.1515/9789048524990Search in Google Scholar
Lect, A., & Abdulkhaleq, L. (2020). A pragmatic study of congratulation responses in Iraqi Arabic. College of Basic Education Research Journal, 16(4), 1121–1138. doi: 10.33899/berj.2020.167270.Search in Google Scholar
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Mahzari, M. (2017). A Sociopragmatic study of the congratulation strategies of Saudi Facebook users. (Unpublished Ph.D dissertation), Arizona State University, USA. https://core.ac.uk/reader/97833100.Search in Google Scholar
Methawut, E. (2004). The effect of computer mediated communication to communication patterns. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3661&context=etd-project.Search in Google Scholar
Muhammad Irahim, N. H., & Abu Bakar, N. (2020). Congratulatory messages strategy in Facebook and Twitter. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences. https://www.europeanproceedings.com/article/10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.02.63.10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.02.63Search in Google Scholar
Oishi, E. (2006). Austin’s speech act theory and the speech situation. Esercizi Filosofici, 1, 1–14. https://www2.units.it/eserfilo/art106/oishi106.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Pishghadam, R., & Moghaddam, M. M. (2011). Towards a contrastive pragmatic analysis of congratulation speech act in Persian and English. The Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 130–151.Search in Google Scholar
Sapitri, P., Chasanah, A., Putri, & Paulima, J. (2020). Exploring Brown and Levinson's politeness strategies: An explanation on the nature of the politeness phenomenon. REiLA : Journal of Research and Innovation in Language, 1(3), 111–117. doi: 10.31849/reila.v1i3.3801.Search in Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/speechacts/D2D7B03E472C8A390ED60B86E08640E7.10.1017/CBO9781139173438Search in Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning – studies in the theory of speech acts. www.altexploit.files.wordpress.com. https://altexploit.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/john-r.-searle-expression-and-meaning-_-studies-in-the-theory-of-speech-acts-1979.pdf.10.1017/CBO9780511609213Search in Google Scholar
Searle, J. R., & Vanderveken, D. (1985). Foundations of illocutionary logic. Cambridge University Press.10.1007/1-4020-3167-X_5Search in Google Scholar
Setyorini, D. A. (2020). Congratulation Expressions Addressed to Arya Permana Given by Facebookers. www.eprints.ums.ac.id. https://eprints.ums.ac.id/87427/11/A320160271%20NASKAH%20PUBLIKASI%20%2845%29.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Smadi, A., Al-Sayyed, S., Bani Younes, M., Al-Momani, D. & Alazaizeh, S. (2023). Positive politeness strategies employed by Jordanian Facebook users: A case from comments on the Roya News Facebook page. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13(11), 3006–3018. doi: 10.17507/tpls.1311.31.Search in Google Scholar
Solutions, D. (n.d.). Masnoon Quranic duas for to the newlywed. Muslim and Quran. https://muslimandquran.com/duas/chapter/to-the-newlywed#:∼:text=In%20Islam%2C%20Muslims%20pray%20for,join%20you%20together%20in%20goodness.Search in Google Scholar
Wardat, M., & Alkhateeb, O. M. (2020). Congratulation strategies in Syrians’ wedding parties in Jordan. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 7(2), 87–109. https://www.jallr.com/index.php/JALLR/article/view/1103/1265.Search in Google Scholar
Yaseen, M., Sayyed, S., & Ibrahim, H. (2022). Modes of persuasion for women in English and Arabic advertisements. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 180–190.Search in Google Scholar
Zainal, A. G., Ismail, S. M., Tagibova, A. A., Al-Sayyed, S. W., Wekke, I. S., Sofyawati, E. D., Islam, M. Z., & Haidari, M. M. F. (2022). An account of EFL learners’ grammatical knowledge and motivation toward learning in an online instructional environment. Education Research International, 2022, 1–11. doi: 10.1155/2022/8099222.Search in Google Scholar
© 2025 the author(s), published by De Gruyter
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles in the same Issue
- Special Issue: Designing the Feminist City: Projects, Practices, Processes for Urban Public Spaces, edited by Cecilia De Marinis (BAU College of Arts and Design of Barcelona, Spain) and Dorotea Ottaviani (University of Sapienza, Italy)
- Feminist Urban Paideias: The Need for New Imaginaries of the Aesthetic Walk
- Intervening “City Horses”: Soft Performative Gestures of Protest in Public Space
- Special Issue: Violence(s), edited by Carolina Borda (NHS Scotland) and Cristina Basso
- “He Who Obeys Does Not Err”: Examining Residual Violence in the Practice of Obedience Within the Catholic Church Through a Case Study of the Capuchin Order
- “Violent Possible”: The Stochasticity of Institutional Violence
- Stepping Out of Line: Moving Through Vulnerability With Children in Transition
- Autoethnographic Enquiry of Sexual Violence in Academia
- Towards a Reparatory Theory of Creolization
- Special Issue: Challenging Nihilism: An Exploration of Culture and Hope, edited by Juan A. Tarancón (University of Zaragoza)
- Ecological Grief, Hope, and Creative Forms of Resilience: A Creative Practice Approach
- Longing for the Past and Resisting Oblivion: Palestinian Women as Guardians of Memory in Bye Bye Tiberias (2023)
- Research Articles
- A Socio-Historical Mapping of Translation Fields: A Case Study of English Self-Help Literature in Arabic Translation
- Interaction of Linguistic and Literary Aspects in the Context of the Cultural Diversity of the Turkic Peoples of Central Asia
- Challenges and Strategies of Translating Arabic Novels into English: Evidence from Al-Sanousi’s Fiʾrān Ummī Hissa
- Persuasion Strategies in Facebook Health Communication: A Comparative Study between Egypt and the United Kingdom
- Digital Games as Safe Places: The Case of Animal Crossing
- Traditional Metaphors of Indonesian Women’s Beauty
- Evaluation of Translatability of Pun in Audio-Visual Content: The Case of Shark Tale
- Bovarism’s Neurotic Reflections Across Cultures: A Comparative Literary Case Study in Light of Karen Horney’s Neurosis Theory
- Flower Representations in the Lyrics of A.A. Fet
- Kembar Mayang and Ronce as Motif Ideas in Natural Dye Batik of Keci Beling Leaves and Honey Mango Leaves
- The Transformation of Kazakhstan’s National Classics in World Performing Arts
- Congratulation Strategies of Crown Prince Hussein’s Wedding: A Socio-pragmatic Study of Facebook Comments
- New Model of Contemporary Kazakh Cinema – Artstream: Trends and Paradigms
- Implementation of the Alash Idea in Literary Translations (On the Example of Contemporary Kazakh Literature)
- Transformations of the Contemporary Art Practices in the Context of Metamodern Sensibility
- Tracing the Flâneur: The Intertextual Origins of an Emblematic Figure of Modernity
- The Role of Media in Building Social Tolerance in Kyrgyzstan’s Ethno-Cultural Diversity
- Persuading in Arabic and English: A Study of EFL Argumentative Writing in Contrast with Native English Norms
- Refusal Strategies in Emirati Arabic: A Gender-Based Study
- Urban Indonesian Women and Fandom Identity in K-drama Fans on Social Media
- Linguistic and Translational Errors on Bilingual Public Signs in the Saudi Southern Region: A Linguistic Landscape Study
- Analyzing the Pragmatic Functions of the Religious Expression /ʔallaːh yaʕtiːk ʔilʕaːfje/(May God grant you health) in Spoken Jordanian Arabic
- “Geographical Imaginaries”: A Three-Decade Literature Review of Usage and Applications Across Academic Contexts
- Colonial Mimicry, Modernist Experimentation, and the Hegelian Dialectics of Empire: A Postcolonial Deconstructive Reading of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
- Aesthetic Hybridization in the Creation of Contemporary Batik Motif Design
- Echoes of Past and Voices of Present: Intergenerational Trauma and Collective Memory in “The Fortune Men”
- Staging the Self: Life-Writings of Fatima Rushdi and Sarah Bernhardt as Emblems of Fin-de-Siècle New Womanhood
- Bodies and Things: Technology and Violence as a Vehicle for Posthumanist Ontologies in Julia Ducournau’s Titane
- Narrating the Ruins: Eco-Orientalism, Environmental Violence, and Postcolonial Ecologies in Arab Anglophone Fiction
Articles in the same Issue
- Special Issue: Designing the Feminist City: Projects, Practices, Processes for Urban Public Spaces, edited by Cecilia De Marinis (BAU College of Arts and Design of Barcelona, Spain) and Dorotea Ottaviani (University of Sapienza, Italy)
- Feminist Urban Paideias: The Need for New Imaginaries of the Aesthetic Walk
- Intervening “City Horses”: Soft Performative Gestures of Protest in Public Space
- Special Issue: Violence(s), edited by Carolina Borda (NHS Scotland) and Cristina Basso
- “He Who Obeys Does Not Err”: Examining Residual Violence in the Practice of Obedience Within the Catholic Church Through a Case Study of the Capuchin Order
- “Violent Possible”: The Stochasticity of Institutional Violence
- Stepping Out of Line: Moving Through Vulnerability With Children in Transition
- Autoethnographic Enquiry of Sexual Violence in Academia
- Towards a Reparatory Theory of Creolization
- Special Issue: Challenging Nihilism: An Exploration of Culture and Hope, edited by Juan A. Tarancón (University of Zaragoza)
- Ecological Grief, Hope, and Creative Forms of Resilience: A Creative Practice Approach
- Longing for the Past and Resisting Oblivion: Palestinian Women as Guardians of Memory in Bye Bye Tiberias (2023)
- Research Articles
- A Socio-Historical Mapping of Translation Fields: A Case Study of English Self-Help Literature in Arabic Translation
- Interaction of Linguistic and Literary Aspects in the Context of the Cultural Diversity of the Turkic Peoples of Central Asia
- Challenges and Strategies of Translating Arabic Novels into English: Evidence from Al-Sanousi’s Fiʾrān Ummī Hissa
- Persuasion Strategies in Facebook Health Communication: A Comparative Study between Egypt and the United Kingdom
- Digital Games as Safe Places: The Case of Animal Crossing
- Traditional Metaphors of Indonesian Women’s Beauty
- Evaluation of Translatability of Pun in Audio-Visual Content: The Case of Shark Tale
- Bovarism’s Neurotic Reflections Across Cultures: A Comparative Literary Case Study in Light of Karen Horney’s Neurosis Theory
- Flower Representations in the Lyrics of A.A. Fet
- Kembar Mayang and Ronce as Motif Ideas in Natural Dye Batik of Keci Beling Leaves and Honey Mango Leaves
- The Transformation of Kazakhstan’s National Classics in World Performing Arts
- Congratulation Strategies of Crown Prince Hussein’s Wedding: A Socio-pragmatic Study of Facebook Comments
- New Model of Contemporary Kazakh Cinema – Artstream: Trends and Paradigms
- Implementation of the Alash Idea in Literary Translations (On the Example of Contemporary Kazakh Literature)
- Transformations of the Contemporary Art Practices in the Context of Metamodern Sensibility
- Tracing the Flâneur: The Intertextual Origins of an Emblematic Figure of Modernity
- The Role of Media in Building Social Tolerance in Kyrgyzstan’s Ethno-Cultural Diversity
- Persuading in Arabic and English: A Study of EFL Argumentative Writing in Contrast with Native English Norms
- Refusal Strategies in Emirati Arabic: A Gender-Based Study
- Urban Indonesian Women and Fandom Identity in K-drama Fans on Social Media
- Linguistic and Translational Errors on Bilingual Public Signs in the Saudi Southern Region: A Linguistic Landscape Study
- Analyzing the Pragmatic Functions of the Religious Expression /ʔallaːh yaʕtiːk ʔilʕaːfje/(May God grant you health) in Spoken Jordanian Arabic
- “Geographical Imaginaries”: A Three-Decade Literature Review of Usage and Applications Across Academic Contexts
- Colonial Mimicry, Modernist Experimentation, and the Hegelian Dialectics of Empire: A Postcolonial Deconstructive Reading of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
- Aesthetic Hybridization in the Creation of Contemporary Batik Motif Design
- Echoes of Past and Voices of Present: Intergenerational Trauma and Collective Memory in “The Fortune Men”
- Staging the Self: Life-Writings of Fatima Rushdi and Sarah Bernhardt as Emblems of Fin-de-Siècle New Womanhood
- Bodies and Things: Technology and Violence as a Vehicle for Posthumanist Ontologies in Julia Ducournau’s Titane
- Narrating the Ruins: Eco-Orientalism, Environmental Violence, and Postcolonial Ecologies in Arab Anglophone Fiction
