Ritualised insistence and gendered moral personhood in Jordanian Arabic

Introduction This study examines ritualised gift-receiving in Jordanian Arabic as a site for the enactment of gendered moral personhood rather than merely a matter of politeness management. Methods Drawing on semi-structured interviews and scenario-based interactional reconstructions with 40 native speakers, equally divided by gender, the study analyses how participants respond linguistically to gifts and favours in everyday service and semi-service encounters. The analysis integrates interaction ritual theory with sociolinguistic approaches to gender and stance. Results Both men and women participate in the same ritual framework of insistence and refusal, but they follow different interactional trajectories. Men more often combine gratitude with minimisation, refusal, and closure, projecting restraint, autonomy, and non-entitlement. Women, by contrast, more often foreground extended appreciation, affective alignment, blessings, and relational reassurance, sustaining the exchange even while resisting material acceptance. Discussion Ritualised insistence in Jordanian Arabic thus operates as a flexible moral order accommodating multiple socially ratified forms of gendered enactment. Gift-receiving emerges not simply as politeness, but as a key interactional arena for displaying dignity, care, generosity, and relational responsibility within ordinary interpersonal and service-oriented social life.