Semantics and pragmatics of religious formulae used by teachers in Saudi Arabian classroom talk

This project investigates the use of Arabic Religious Formulae (henceforth, RFs) in Saudi Arabic teacher-student talk. It is underpinned by Speech Act Theory, Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and its offshoot, Cultural Script Theory. Ethnographic methods were used to collect data and Conversation Analysis (CA) was crucial for transcribing data, shedding further light on the cultural significance of the speech acts and RFs used in teacher-student interaction. Thirty teachers from a range of disciplines were observed and audio-taped twice. A focus group discussion was conducted after the observation period in order to gather speakers’ insights about their use of religious formulae. This triangulation reveals a wide range of communication functions and pragmatic roles that RFs can play in interactions. In addition, it identifies precisely the social and cultural embeddedness of the occurrence of RFs in Arabic teacher-student talk. The findings are original in revealing the characteristics of RFs, the way they construct speech acts, and how speakers challenge the ambiguous use of RFs. The study also contributes to our understanding of the cultural value of using RFs as part of a Saudi teacher role. iv