A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis of Condolences among Egyptian and English- Speaking Users of Facebook

The present study investigates some condoling comments given by Egyptian and English- speaking users of Facebook, examining the effect of culture on the way people give condolences to one another. Using participant observation, 200 (100 Egyptian Arabic and 100 English) naturally occurring condolence speech acts are collected from Facebook obituary status updates. The study seeks to investigate the frequently used semantic strategies, syntactic, and lexical aspects that distinguish Egyptian and English condoling comments on Facebook. Furthermore, other aspects that differentiate between Egyptian Arabic (EA) and English condoling comments on Facebook are examined. The results also shed light on how cultural norms and politeness might affect the way Egyptians and English- speaking users of Facebook give condolences. New categories are added to the previous models to create a semantic classification that fits and covers the data of the study. In order to address the objectives of the study, quantitative as well as qualitative analyses are carried out. Results of the study proved that Egyptians condole each other using religious consolations, whereas English speakers use direct and apologetic condolences. The study highlights the great effect of the Islamic culture on Egyptians. Finally, the study concludes that using different politeness strategies to accomplish face wants and avoid face threats when giving condolences differ from one culture to another.