Formulas Against the Evil Eye in the University of Jordan

This paper reports on the findings of a contrastive study exploring the frequency of the use of formulas against the evil eye. It also explores the different categories of compliment responses. The subjects are 100 female and male native speakers of Jordanian Arabic and native speakers of American English. The data are elicited through a DCT that consists of 10 situations. Analysis of the data showed that formulaic expressions were used by native speakers of Jordanian Arabic and native speakers of American English to keep the evil eye away from the speakers. There were no significant differences between the female and male students in complimenting. The participants employed different types of compliment responses. The most frequent category was to accept compliments. A future study is recommended to examine the similarities and differences between the compliments used by teachers and students using online classes.