Politeness, conversational gender and regional differences : the case of Algerian students in Yarmouk university (Jordan)‎

الملخص EN

The present study aims to explore politeness among the Algerian students at Yarmouk university, by focusing on regional and gender differences.

20 Algerian males and 20 females, who won a scholarship to commence their study on Jordan, participated in this study.

the data collected through a written questionnaire.

the questions are designed to discover how Algerian males and females from different region differ in their use of polite expressions.

the findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the use of negative and positive politeness across gender and region.

the results show that the social distance and imposition determine the strategy of applying politeness within an interaction with people.

thus, the greater the distance and the imposition, the lesser intimation are the participants.