Gender-Based Communication Strategies in Expressing Gratitude in Najdi Arabic: An Investigation Into Differences in the Production and Perception of Thanking

The current study explores how speech acts of thanking were expressed and perceived in Najdi Arabic (NA). It also considers if there were any gender differences in how NA speakers expressed and perceived the speech act of gratitude. To gather the relevant data, naturally occurring tokens of gratitude, an oral discourse-completion task (DCT), and interviews were used. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were employed to analyze the data. Al-Zubaidi’s (2012) scheme of gratitude and Creswell’s (2009) thematic model of data analysis were used as the research framework. The analysis of the naturally occurring speech act data revealed that a total of 18 gratitude strategies were employed. The DCT findings on NA speakers’ realizations of speech acts of gratitude revealed that they used a total of 27 gratitude strategies. Additionally, the results showed that particular gratitude strategies were associated with one gender group more frequently than the other. The naturally occurring speech data highlighted statistical differences in the length of speech acts used to express gratitude between NA-speaking males and females. However, the participants’ perceptions of how gratitude should be expressed in response to the DCT situations revealed no statistical gender-based differences in the length of speech used to express gratitude. Overall, the findings confirmed that the collectivistic nature and religious values of the Najdi region strongly influence their gratitude behaviors. The findings also illustrated new gratitude strategies.