A sociopragmatic study on the influence of religion on invitation speech act in Algeria

Abstract EN

Language and religion have both been considered as influential components of culture that influence each other.

in an attempt to understand the relationship between religion and language, this study aims to examine the influence of religion on language as a communicative means, focusing on the effect of Islam and Islamic values and beliefs on the everyday language of Algerian speakers of Arabic.

to explore the extent of religion's influence on language use, the study investigates the use of religious expressions in the daily speech through analysing invitation speech act.

this study mainly uses qualitative analysis based on speech act theory (Austin, 1962 ; Searle, 1969) and brown and Levinson's (1987) face-saving approach of politeness.

it has been found that religious lexicon play a significant role and influence in the performance of invitation speech act.

in addition, the use of religion as a politeness strategy appears to function as a way of protecting the self-image of both the speaker and the hearer.

moreover, the participants' responses reveal awareness of the religious and ideological motivations behind the use of religious expressions.