Pragmatic study of congratulation responses in Iraqi Arabic

Abstract EN

In all human speech communities, congratulation responses strategies and their verbal expression are present, but controlled by these societies' socio-cultural values.

It is quite rare to find language that shares formulas with the same content, function, distribution and frequency, due to such factors as the social organization of the community, and the structure of their language.

It is common for others to express positive thoughts and emotions about a person when something good happens, which is considered as a positive politeness strategy stated by Brown and Levinson (1987).

When the other person who receives the good news does not show or express his pleasure in what happened to the addressed person, it is considered a sign of envy.

In this study, congratulations are seen as an acknowledgement of the achievement or good fortune of another.

Elwood's study (2004) of congratulation, includes 45 English American students, 45 Japanese English students and 45 Japanese writers in Japanese who complete a discourse completion test in seven scenarios where three conditions were linked to reacting to joyous news, such as awards, promotion and wedding.

According to her, in a favourable news scenario, most speakers attempt to show their satisfaction and happiness by saying "congratulation", but their strategies and words often vary considerably from situation to another.