Politeness and Praise in Saudi Arabic Compliment Strategies and Responses Among Young Speakers.pdf

This study offers a comprehensive investigation into the sociopragmatic dynamics of compliments and compliment responses among young Saudi Arabic speakers, with a focus on the Najdi dialect. Employing a sequential explanatory <b>mixed-methods approach</b>, the research integrates quantitative data from a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and qualitative insights from semi-structured interviews. It contributes to the field of <b>interlanguage pragmatics</b> by applying Yuan’s (2002) framework for compliment strategies and Herbert’s (1986) typology for response patterns, both adapted to the Saudi sociocultural context.The study’s main contributions are threefold:<b>Empirical Advancement</b>: It provides one of the few systematic datasets on Arabic compliment behavior among Saudi youth, capturing both production and reception across varied social situations, including hierarchies of power, gender roles, and religious influence.<b>Theoretical Refinement</b>: The research challenges and extends existing speech act models by foregrounding how Islamic values, social modesty, and facework are enacted in daily linguistic practices. It shows how formulaic religious expressions function as pragmatic devices to manage politeness, humility, and social solidarity.<b>Methodological Innovation</b>: By triangulating DCT results with interview narratives, the study highlights the limitations of using elicited data in isolation. It demonstrates that qualitative interviews are essential for uncovering culturally embedded motivations, especially in high-context societies like Saudi Arabia.This work deepens the understanding of speech acts in Arabic pragmatics, contributes original data to cross-cultural politeness theory, and offers pedagogical implications for teaching pragmatics in EFL contexts within the Gulf region.