The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact of power distance and gender on the choice of disagreement strategies by speakers of Saudi colloquial Arabic (henceforth “SCA”) in same- and cross-gender interactions. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) consisting of three situations reflecting the three different combinations of power status (high-low, low-high, and equal) was used to collect the data. To have a comprehensive account of the impact of gender, four groups of participants (Male®Male, Male®Female, Female®Female and Female®Male) were included. Each group consisted of 40 participants. The collected data were compared and analyzed using Maíz-Arévalo’s (2014) taxonomy of disagreement strategies. The data analysis revealed two patterns; firstly, when there was no power distance between interlocuters or when the speaker expressing disagreement had a higher power position than the addressee, gender appeared to have an impact on the choice of disagreement strategies by the speakers of SCA. When disagreeing with the same gender, both male and female speakers of SCA tended to use strong disagreement strategies but mitigated disagreement strategies when disagreeing with the other gender; and secondly, when the speaker expressing disagreement had a lower power position than the addressee, the gender of either the speaker or the addressee did not seem to have an impact on the choice of disagreement strategies. In this pattern, power appeared to be the decisive factor which both male and female speakers of SCA tended to use in mitigated disagreement strategies regardless of the gender of the addressee.

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This study examines service encounters in Saudi Arabia from a pragmatic perspective. Its aim is to investigate the possible impact of perceived cultural distance between customers and service providers on pragmatic choices. It specifically examines how Saudi customers construct their service encounters when talking to service providers of the same (versus different) cultural/ethnic background in terms of discourse structure; strategies of request and internal modifications, and stylistic strategies. Three cafés with service providers of three different ethnic/cultural backgrounds are chosen. One has Saudi service providers, the second café has Arab (non-Saudi) service providers, and the third café has non-Arab service providers. Forty socially minimal service encounter interactions that take place in each café are observed and manually recorded. The study uses the framework of ‘rapport management’ by Spencer-Oatey (2002) as its approach for data analysis. The findings indicate that there are differences among the three sets of data in terms of discourse structure, the realization of the speech act of request, and the stylistic aspect of interactions. According to the special nature of service encounters, customers’ pragmatic choices are explained in terms of expressing certain degrees of social distance rather than politeness. More specifically, the closer cultural distance between customers and service providers, the more pragmatic strategies functioning to achieve more closeness and solidarity are employed.

This study examines service encounters in Saudi Arabia from a pragmatic perspective. Its aim is to investigate the possible impact of perceived cultural distance between customers and service providers on pragmatic choices. It specifically examines how Saudi customers construct their service encounters when talking to service providers of the same (versus different) cultural/ethnic background in terms of discourse structure; strategies of request and internal modifications, and stylistic strategies. Three cafés with service providers of three different ethnic/cultural backgrounds are chosen. One has Saudi service providers, the second café has Arab (non-Saudi) service providers, and the third café has non-Arab service providers. Forty socially minimal service encounter interactions that take place in each café are observed and manually recorded. The study uses the framework of ‘rapport management’ by Spencer-Oatey (2002) as its approach for data analysis. The findings indicate that there are differences among the three sets of data in terms of discourse structure, the realization of the speech act of request, and the stylistic aspect of interactions. According to the special nature of service encounters, customers’ pragmatic choices are explained in terms of expressing certain degrees of social distance rather than politeness. More specifically, the closer cultural distance between customers and service providers, the more pragmatic strategies functioning to achieve more closeness and solidarity are employed.

This paper attempts to cast light on a leading poet-playwright who signifies several Arabic cultures, proficiencies, and skills. The study aims at revealing to what extent the play Omar is a modern Arabic poetic play. Omar is a historical drama that deals with social problems. Omar presents a vision of Arabic drama in the modern age, but it is also a poetic play. For that, it is the task of the researcher to try to prove that Omar bears several grounds, such as poetic devices and connotative symbols, to be called a poetic drama. The investigator adopts the critical-descriptive method in analyzing the first scene of the introduction of the play, Omar. The paper is planned with an introductory overview dealing with a brief view of poetic drama and blank verse. The second part deals with Ali Ahmad Ba-Kathir as a pioneer poet-dramatist. The main part of the study deals with the epic play Omar with reference to the first scene of the introduction, shedding light on the skillfulness of the writer in manipulating poetic and musical devices. The task finishes with recommendations and a brief conclusion.