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)
