Politeness in Libyan Arabic: A Third-Wave Perspective

This study examines politeness and ritualistic forms of politeness from a third-wave perspective, using empirical data from Libyan Arabic, in order to contribute to our understanding of these phenomena. The objectives of this study are threefold. First, it aims to find out the most dominant norms of Libyan politeness. Second, it aims to examine the role of religion, if any, in the understandings of Libyan politeness. Third, it aims to investigate the relationship between politeness and rituals and how rituals are used to occasion politeness in Libyan culture. In order to address these aims, authentic discourse is explored using Kádár and Haugh‟s (2013) analytical framework to politeness. Further to the fact that this framework draws from multiple loci of understanding, i.e. there is not one single understanding of politeness, it allows the researcher to cover the macro-aspects of politeness, without losing sight of the micro aspects. This study also benefited significantly from consulting other relevant views to (im)politeness and ritual including Kádár‟s (2013) typology of relational rituals as well as Haugh‟s (2013) view of (im)politeness as a social practice, Culpeper‟s (2011a) concept of impoliteness, and Goffman‟s (1967) notion of face.

Encounters of spontaneous interactional data and post-interviews data produced by native speakers of Arabic of both genders and of different age groups were recorded in various secular and institutional settings. The mundane data includes interactions among friends, family members, and tribal members, whereas institutional discourse is gathered from three Libyan workplaces. For organisational purposes, data analysis is presented in four analytical chapters (5, 6, 7, and 8) in an increasing scale of formality. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data revealed a number of significant findings including: 1) hospitality and politeness are closely related in Libyan Arab culture; and therefore, it represents one of the most dominant norms of Libyan politeness; 2) religion is the prime-mover of most of the cultural aspects of Libyan society , where religious teachings are clearly reflected in most daily life interactions, such as understanding and expressing politeness; 3) there is a strong relationship between politeness and rituals, where religious rituals in particular play a silent role in occasioning politeness.