Saudi English (also called ‘Arabicised-English’ by Al-Shurafa, 2009) is probably one of the least studied varieties among the ‘New Englishes’. This paper aims to provide an introduction to the main syntactic features of the variety. In order to do this I will use the list of features discernible in varieties of English world-wide as ascertained by two scholars working actively on the typology of the different Englishes, Kortmann & Szmrecsanyi (2004). They use the term ‘angloversals’ for recurrent non-standard features widely found in English across the globe. This paper investigates three such ‘angloversal’ features which I believe to be widespread in Saudi Arabia: (a) #57: deletion ofbe; (b) #17: irregular use of articles; and (c) #53: invariant present tense forms due to zero marking for the third person singular (Kortmann & Szmrecsanyi 2004: 1146–7). This article also aims to study the effects of the Arabic substrate on the variety of English spoken in Saudi Arabia. The occurrence of the features is investigated among different strata in the society.

The paper describes Saudi English morphosyntactic and lexical features that are widely practiced among educated Saudis, who completed at least nine years of English language study. The occurrence of the morphosyntactic features is argued to be affected by the speakers' contact to the native English. Those who are in direct contact with Standard English (Std Eng) have 15 morphosyntactic features unlike those who have no direct contact to Std Eng (or EFL speakers) and who produce 15 more traits. Accordingly, the paper distinguishes between stable traits used by all the speakers and the ones that are used by EFL speakers only. The abundant features of Saudi English are further analyzed in comparison to those of other World Englishes varieties as well as in comparison to the Arabic structures. As for the lexical level, local lexemes are described. They are grouped into words that are borrowed from Arabic and words that are translated from Arabic. Overall, this study contributes to the exploration of the Expanding Circle variety of Saudi English and to the effect of language contact on language variations.

Saudi English has recently emerged as a new variety within the World Englishes framework. Many scholars have argued that there is still a gap in the literature and more studies on Saudi English are needed. This study hopes to contribute to the growing research interest in Saudi English studies. The current study aims to identify Saudi English syntactic characteristics classified in relation to noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, and clausal structure. Data were collected using three methods: conversation in natural settings, open-ended questions, and students' writings. The findings confirm that substrate-superstrate interaction affects many syntactic characteristics of Saudi English.

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Gender is considered a vital factor that contributes in affecting the use and interpretation of politeness strategies by interlocutors (Mills, 2003) which is affirmed by various studies. The objective of the present study is to investigate the use of politeness strategies among male and female interlocutors (a male interviews male and female interviewees) in a Saudi TV show to examine differences in case there are any. The present study is primarily based on the theoretical framework proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). Such framework gives rise to a systematic network of politeness strategies, presupposing that speech acts are generally linked to the abstract cultural notion of “face”. Two questions are addressed as; firstly, Does the male interviewer use the same politeness strategies with both male and female interviewees? Secondly, what are the politeness strategies used by male and by female interviewees in their interaction with the male interviewer? Are they the same or different? The results show that the female interviewer on one hand, uses negative politeness most of the time. The male interviewer, on the other hand, was neutral with the female interviewee. Moreover, the male interviewee uses only positive politeness strategies in his interaction with the interviewer. Similarly, politeness strategies used by the interviewer are positive. Such strategies that are used between male interlocutors indicate a common ground and convey that both are co-operators.