ARABIC FORMS OF ADDRESS: SOCIOLINGUISTIC OVERVIEW

Representing an important interface that reflects the relationship between language and society, forms of address provide significant sociolinguistic information about the interlocutors' relationship, and the socio-cultural contexts. The present article aims at identifying some types of Arabic address forms (mainly kinship terms and teknonyms) that may be used in different socio-cultural contexts and the factors that affect them. It is also aimed at finding some evidence of the fact that Arabic forms of address are derived from Islamic teachings and Prophetic traditions. For this purpose, one hundred and eleven of the Prophet Muhammad's hadiths have been analysed. The data was also collected from multiple Arabic studies and books on titles, names, and teknonyms by Arab scholars, and through ethnographic observation as well. Admitting the fact that the Arabic language is the root of different Arabic dialects, such as the Syrian, Palestinian, and Jordanian ones, we focus, in this study, on Standard Arabic language in an attempt to find out some general features of the forms of address typical of the Arab world, though we admit that every dialect has its own specificity in terms of addressing others and needs special study. The findings show that although Arabic forms of address share some universal features with other languages, they display many culture specific peculiarities, which are pre-determined by culture and cultural values. The paper contributes to our understanding of Arabic address forms in different social contexts and may be applied in the classes of second language teaching and intercultural communication. (C) 2018 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK