Off-record indirectness in Jordanian Arabic

This paper is an attempt to explore the realisation and motives of off-record indirectness as a common mode of conversation in naturally occurring social interactions in Jordanian Arabic. It is found that off-record indirectness mirrors speaker's considerateness of the face wants of the speech act recipient, communicating face-threatening acts indirectly. The need to be polite justifies conversation partners' deliberate flouting of Grice's maxims and using conversational implicatures. Indirect means of communication and the employment of abbreviated conversations are also used for humour and as a preferred style and solidarity marker among family members, intimates and closely related people. It is also found that there are instances of off-record indirectness that might be perceived as impolite. In support of other scholars' arguments, the study stresses that instances of off-record indirectness which might be perceived as impolite in terms of first-order politeness are doing interactional facework in terms of second-order politeness. Indirectness, then, may always be face work but is not always politeness.

Automated summary

This paper explores the use of off-record indirectness as a common mode of conversation in naturally occurring social interactions in Jordanian Arabic. The study finds that off-record indirectness reflects the speaker's consideration of the recipient's face wants, allowing for the indirect communication of face-threatening acts. Politeness justifies the deliberate flouting of communication norms and the use of implicatures. In addition, off-record indirectness is also used for humor and as a preferred style among family members and close relationships. However, some instances of off-record indirectness may be perceived as impolite. The study argues that these instances are doing interactional facework in terms of second-order politeness. Thus, while off-record indirectness is always face work, it is not always politeness.