Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number4 December 2021 Pp. 366-386
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.24
Levels of Warning in the Text messages Sent by the Saudi Ministry of Health during Covid-19
Pandemic
Thanaa Abdulrazzaq Alhabuobi
Department of Languages and Translation
Taibah University
Almadinah Almunawwarah, Saudi Arabia
Email: thamar_5@hotmail.com
Received: 9/27/2021 Accepted: 11/12/2021 Published:12/15/2021
Abstract:
With the beginning of the Corona pandemic at the beginning of 2019 and its rapid spread, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was among the countries that moved very quickly to address this matter. All state institutions played the role related to them. Saudi Ministry of Health launched an intensive package of warning, awareness, and guidance in the form of text messages through multiple electronic platforms to reach the largest segment of society. The study took three sources to collect data, three telecommunications companies, the official account of the Ministry of Health on Twitter and the official website of the Ministry. The current study was based on analyzing these messages in terms of warning levels in various speech acts according to the theories of Austin and Searle, in addition to analyzing the content in terms of its relationship to the actual text and the objective context. The study tried to seek the warning levels in the messages which were classified into three sections: high, moderate, and low and identified the types of actions that represent the levels. The significance of the study lies in revealing how language is used to raise the level of awareness in society. Based on the research methods, this study is analytical and descriptive, based on the theory of speech acts in its foundations, and the development of a reference model for analyzing warning levels that depend on the type of action and its implications, taking into account the indirect speech acts. The results of the study concluded that there is a clear discrepancy in the use of speech verbs to express the three levels of warning.
Keywords: Covid-19, levels of warning, Saudi Ministry of Health, speech acts, telecommunications, text messages, Twitter
Cite as: Alhabuobi, T. A.(2021). Levels of Warning in the Text messages Sent by the Saudi Ministry of Health during Covid-19 Pandemic. Arab World English Journal, 12 (4) 366-386.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.24
References
Allwood, J. (1977). A Critical Look at Speech Act Theory. In Dahl, (ed.), Logic, Pragmatics and grammar (pp. 53-99). Goteberg: University of Goteberg.
Al-Hindawi, F., Al-Masu’di, H., & Mirza, R. (2014). The Speech Act Theory in English and Arabic. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 4 (1), 27-37. Retrieved from URL http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojml http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2014.41003.
Al-Shafie, R., & Al-Jubbory, F. (2015). Iraqi EFL learners’ Use of the Speech Acts of
Warning and Threatening in Situational Dialogues. Adab Alkoufa, 8 (24), 11-26.
Austin, J. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Massachusetts : Harverd University Press.
Bataineh, F., & Aljamal, M. (2014). Watch out and beware: differences in the use of warning between American and Jordanian undergraduate students. SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 11(1), 87-110. Retrieved from http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL25/pdf_doc/04.pdf
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. New York. Cambridge University Press.
Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and Discourse. London: Routledge.
Davis, S. (1991). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fromkin, V., & Rodman, R. (1993). An Introduction to Language. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company.
Horn, L., & Ward, G. (2006). The Handbook of Pragmatics. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Huang, Y. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hussein, A., & Khalaf, S. (2018). Iraqi EFL University Students’ Linguistic Strategies in Approaching Warning and Prohibition. English Language Teaching, 11 (12). 11-37 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education.
Levinson, S. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnstone, B. (2002). Discourse Analysis. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Kadri, H., & Abd Razak, M. (2018). Speech Acts of Written Texts in Fast Food Online Advertisement. Research Gate. Retrieved September 14 ,2021, from URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328802711_Speech_Acts_of_Written_Texts_in_Fast_Food_Online_Advertisement
Mey, J. (2001). Pragmatics. Massachusetts, USA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Morris, Ch. (1938). Foundations of the Theory of Signs. International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, 1(2), vii-59.
Naufalina, L. (2017). A Speech Acts Analysis of Bon Appétite Food Advertisements, (Unpublished Master’s Thesis). State University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/132420862.pdf
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. Essex: Longman Group Limited.
Searle, J. (1969). Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/speech-acts/structure-of-illocutionary-acts.
Searle, J. (1979). Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Simona, S., & Dejica-Cartisa, D. (2015). Speech Acts in Written Advertisements: Identification, Classification and Analysis. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 192, 234 – 239, DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.033.
Schiffrin, D. (1994). Approaches to Discourse. UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Whitney, P. (1998). The Psychology of Language. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.