The Pragmatic Functions of Allah-Centred Expressions in Jordanian Spoken Arabic

Authors

  • Abdallah Abu Qub’a

    English Language Department, College of Arts, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
  • Omar Abdullah Al-Haj Eid

    Faculty of Educational Sciences, UNRWA University, Amman 11118, Jordan
  • Mohammed Nour Abu-Guba

    Language Institute, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
  • Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh

    School of Foreign Languages, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.8812
Received: 20 February 2025 | Revised: 11 April 2025 | Accepted: 13 April 2025 | Published Online: 15 April 2025

Abstract

This study aims to identify the use of the word Allah ‘God’in Jordanian spoken Arabic and its pragmatic functions. The ethnography of communication method, as proposed by Gumperz and Hymes, alongside Speech Act Theory and Politeness Theory were adopted to collect the data for this study. The data, gathered with the help of six native-speaking assistants and identifies (123) Allah-based phrases and compiled them into a list of (37) pragmatic functions used in Jordanian spoken Arabic. The researchers recorded real-life conversations across various social settings such as homes, universities, coffee shops, and workplaces. The findings reveal that Allah-based phrases serve a wide range of communicative purposes in Jordanian Arabic, including expressing admiration, praise, surprise, politeness, and emotional support. These expressions are idiomatic and culture-bound, functioning as speech acts and forming a specialized register deeply embedded in Jordanian society. The study underscores the religious and sociolinguistic significance of these phrases, highlighting their role in maintaining social harmony and expressing shared cultural values. This research contributes to the understanding of how faith-related language operates pragmatically in Arabic discourse and suggests avenues for further investigation in other Arabic dialects and cross-cultural contexts to broaden insights into religious expressions in communication.

Keywords:

Allah-Centered Expressions; Jordanian Spoken Arabic; Pragmatics; Intercultural Communication; Idiomatic Language

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How to Cite

Abu Qub’a, A., Al-Haj Eid, O. A., Abu-Guba, M. N., & Altakhaineh, A. R. (2025). The Pragmatic Functions of Allah-Centred Expressions in Jordanian Spoken Arabic. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(4), 832–850. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.8812

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 4 (April 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Abdallah Abu Qub’a, Omar Abdullah Al-HajEid, Mohammed Nour Abu-Guba, Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.