A Socio-pragmatic Study of Forms of Address and Terms of Reference in Classical Arabic as Represented in the Chapter of Joseph in the Holy Quran

In a sociolinguistic-pragmatic framework, the Classical Arabic terms of address and forms of reference used by the members of the society of the story of the Prophet Joseph as presented in the Holy Quran are analysed. The addressing as well as the referring terms (nominal and pronominal) are, first, extracted from the Quranic text in order to explore their linguistic features with regard to number, case, and gender. They are, then, not interpreted in isolation, but in contexts to be tested against the common sociolinguistic variables (age, gender, setting and status). In addition, the collected data are discussed contextually as well as theoretically in relation to contemporary views, such as Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory, Brown and Gilman's (1960) theory of power/solidarity and Brown and Ford's (1961) theory of intimacy/ status. It is found that the choice of these addressing and referring terms by Classical Arabic speakers is determined by the above sociolinguistic factors particularly gender, setting, and status. Also, although Classical Arabic addressing and referring systems do not have the pronominal T and V distinctions suggested by Brown and Gilman's (1960), the theory of power/solidarity is found applicable to many aspects of Classical Arabic addressing and referring behaviours. In addition, the analysis of the data supports the views proposed in Brown and Ford's (1961) theory of intimacy/ status. Positive and negative politeness, as classified by Brown and Levinson (1987), are reported by the present study data in many aspects of addressing and referring behaviours.