Politeness in Arabic Culture

As soon as we want to speak, we must constantly make choices of many different kinds of e.g. what we want to say, how we want to say it. Specifically, we must choose what sentence types, words, and even sounds best unite the what with the how. How we say something is at least as important as what we say. In fact, the content and form are quite inseparable, being but two facets of the same object. According to Thomas (1995), the past twenty years within pragmatics there has been a great deal of interest in 'politeness', to such an extent that politeness theory could almost be seen as a sub-discipline of pragmatics. Then Thomas claims that, much has been written (comparatively little based on empirical research) and different theories and paradigms have emerged. Thomas adds, that we find people are using the same terms in very different ways, are operating with different definitions of 'politeness' and are talking at cross-purposes. Thomas (1970) argues, that within the vast literature on politeness which has built up since the late 1970s we find tremendous confusion. The confusion begins with the very term politeness, which has caused much misunderstanding. (Thomas, 1970, p. 149)

Pragmatics and cultural interpretation in spoken Arabic: feedback as a discourse phenomenon

This study deals with linguistic feedback (see Wiener/48, Fries/52 and Allwood/93) which falls within the domain of cultural description. Feedback can informally be described like this: when a speaker performs a linguistic action which requires a linguistic response from a receiver, the given response has an important function for the speaker. In the ideal case, the listener’s response gives information to the speaker that the listener has perceived and understood the communicated content. However, the receiver can also signal that he/she has failed to hear or understand what has been said. As well as that, the receiver can ignore the speaker’s action and initiate other actions or get involved in a different conversation. It has been noted, in particular, that if a speaker performs an action that requires a response, it is less certain whether both the speaker’s performance and the receiver’s responses will succeed. When a receiver does not give a coherent or clear response, then the sender sees that the receiver is experiencing some problem(s) that deserves to be dealt with. For this reason, there might be several alternatives which the sender can initiate, e.g., to abandon the attempt to get the listener's feedback, to misinterpret the answer, or to take the listener's response into account. By increasing awareness of the significance of feedback, we may hope to understand better problems in communication between cultures. The present study focuses on verbal feedback actions and discusses briefly non-verbal feedback actions. The following aspects are central in the study: I) Feedback expressions in spoken Arabic: - Feedback turns and non-feedback turns. This subsection will include the following items: feedback consisting of a one-word utterance, complex feedback consisting of an utterance of more than one word, eliciting feedback, giving and eliciting feedback, self-feedback and nonfeedback turns II) The semantic and pragmatic analysis of feedback actions: - Criteria for deciding the function of feedback III) Studies of six kinds of conversation and one form of communication, which give examples of feedback in spoken Arabic. This thesis deals also with sociolinguistic feedback and sociolinguistic variations will be described for each individual in conversation. These variations will be described with the help of tables and several selected examples from the data. These examples have to be connected with the main topic (feedback) and related to each social variant. A number of theoretical assumptions about FB and related studies which fall under the same linguistic phenomenon i.e., human response, and possibly have universal relevance, are presented. The need for further empirical research is expressed. The present work is divided into six chapters and based on live conversations recorded in Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

Soybean yield, yield components, seed quality, dehydrin-like proteins, soluble sugars, and mineral nutrients in response to drought stress imposed prior to severe stress

Drought stress reduced soybean seed yield, but its effect on seed quality was highly variable. Two greenhouse experiments (one in summer and one in winter) and one field experiment were conducted to investigate the effects of drought pre-conditioning on seed yield, size, quality, accumulation of dehydrin-like proteins and soluble sugars in relation to seed quality, and seed mineral nutrients. In summer, soybean (Glycine max L.) plants were exposed at beginning seed fill (R5) to well-watered (WW), sudden stress (SS) (without drought pre-conditioning), and three drought pre-conditioning treatments: one-day stress (ODS), two periods of one-day stress (TDS), and gradual stress (GS) imposed prior to severe drought stress. Three treatments were imposed in winter (WW, SS, and GS). In the field experiment, irrigated and non-irrigated conditions were imposed at R5. Yield and yield components declined in drought-stressed plants regardless of the drought patterns compared with WW plants. In the greenhouse experiments, drought stress increased production of small and medium sized seeds, which also had lower germination. Large seeds from well-watered and gradual-stressed plants had better seed vigor (AA-germination) than seeds from suddenly stressed plants, indicating gradual stress was less harmful to seed vigor than sudden stress. In winter, all drought stress treatments induced dehydrin-like proteins at mid-seed development and reduced the level of soluble sugars in the mature seeds. The reduction in soluble sugars in seeds from drought stressed plants coincided with the reduction in AA-germination. In winter and field experiments, drought stress treatments increased the concentration of P, K, Ca, Mo, Mn, and Cu in seed similar in size and weight to seeds from well-watered plants; but, the concentrations varied between the two experiments. Drought-stress treatments reduced seed size in the winter experiment, but not in field experiment. Medium seeds had lower nutrient content than large seeds. In conclusion, all drought stress treatments reduced yield, yield components, increased production of small and medium seeds, and induced expression of dehydrins at mid-seed development. Well-watered and gradual stress treatment improved seed vigor (AA-germination) of large seeds over that observed in the SS treatment and this reduction in seed vigor was coincided with the reduction in soluble sugars

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems and Firm Value: An Event Study Analysis

There is considerable debate on the contributions of IT investments to firm value. Over a decade of research on the business value of information technology has produced mixed findings. This study focuses on the business value generated by a specific kind of IT systems, namely enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Studying the value created by ERP systems is appropriate and important for four reasons. First, ERP systems are being widely used by corporate community. Given the widespread adoption of ERP applications, it becomes essential to assess the contributions of these systems. Second, ERP systems typically encompass a wide spectrum of organizational functions. Given the wide functional coverage of ERP systems, they are likely to have a larger impact on firm performance than those information systems focusing on a specific function. Third, ERP systems require considerable investments in hardware, software, networking, and complementary organizational changes. Since ERP investments represent a critical IT expense for firms, it becomes important to assess the returns from ERP spending. Fourth, the reported failures of ERP systems by companies such as FoxMeyer Drugs, Applied Materials, Hershey, Mobil Europe, and Dow Chemicals have questioned the very viability of ERP systems. This is another compelling reason to ascertain the true contributions of ERP systems

Performance Appraisal for Career Development in A Semi-Political Institution

Abstract: Performance management has become a popular instrument of reform in many countries and effectively improves the quality of bureaucracy. Its use is not limited to the macro and meso-levels but extends to the micro level as a basis for individual career development. Objectivity and subjectivity are contradictory but appear simultaneously in performance appraisal practice. This paper focuses on performance appraisal practices for individual career development in a semi-political organization in terms of four aspects: education, training, promotion, and rotation. The study uses a qualitative method to gather primary data through interviews with source persons in the Secretariat General of the House of Representatives, Republic of Indonesia. The result shows that subjectivity and political factor dominate employees’ performance appraisal as well as career development. It occurs predominantly in the process of rotation and promotion. Furthermore, performance appraisals have not been used in creating an individual development plan in terms of education and training.

Assessing Promotion Performance of Pure Online Players: A Two-Stage Model with Sample Selection

Firms may be motivated to establish an online presence to achieve many objectives, including image-building, awareness creation, sales lead generation, or direct sales. These ends cannot be fulfilled unless customers know of and visit the firmís website. Firms with an established offline presence (mixed online players) can generate website traffic by word-of-mouth or may be reached by a consumer guessing a Web address (e.g., www.ford.com). However, pure online players must promote their websites to their targeted audience in various advertising vehicles in online and/or offline media (e.g., www.monster.com). According to Advertising Age, in 1999, the golden year for advertising-revenue-driven firms, dot-coms spent $7.4 billion in various advertising vehicles to promote their websites