‘Where have you been hiding this voice?’: Judges’ compliments on the TV talent show Arab Idol

Fathi Migdadi, Muhammad A. Badarneh and Areej Qudaisat
Jordan University of Science and Technology

This study explores compliments given by judges to contestants on the TV talent show Arab Idol. A total of 120 comments from the third season 2014–2015 were analyzed for compliment types, structures, lexicon, and supportive remarks. Spenser-Oatey’s (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) rapport management theory was employed to determine how judges managed rapport with contestants through compliments. The analysis shows that the majority of judges’ compliments on the show were explicit compliments that were based on three syntactic patterns and four types of positive semantic carriers conveying complimenting adjectives, verbs, nouns, and adverbs. A smaller category of implicit compliments involved such strategies as comparison/contrast, rhetorical questions, and praising contestant’s country. Both categories were typically qualified by supportive or weakening elements such as repetition, encouragement, and criticism, resulting in a third category of ‘macro-compliments’. The study shows that rapport management accounts to a large extent for the judges’ complimenting behavior.

Publication history

Date received: 12 April 2022

Date accepted: 1 February 2024

Published online: 14 March 2024

Table of contents

1.Introduction

Since 2000, the reality television (RTV) genre has attracted the attention of many researchers, especially in academic fields such as media, cultural studies, philosophy, and ethics (Collins 2009Collins, Kathleen 2009 “Reality Television: Scholarly Treatments Since 2000.” CBQ 40: 2–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCollins, Kathleen 2009 “Reality Television: Scholarly Treatments Since 2000.” CBQ 401: 2–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The aim of these studies is not to provide a text-level linguistic analysis, although some of them examine ‘language’ issues in a macro-analytical sense. However, research on essential linguistic issues in RTV programs has recently flourished, focusing on participants’ verbal behavior and interactive discourse (Culpeper 2005Culpeper, Jonathan 2005 “Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The Weakest Link .” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 35–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan 2005 “Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The Weakest Link.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 35–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Coyne et al. 2010Coyne, Sarah, Simon Robinson, and David Nelson 2010 “Does Reality Backbite? Physical, Verbal, and Relational Aggression in Reality Television Programs.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54: 282–298. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCoyne, Sarah, Simon Robinson, and David Nelson 2010 “Does Reality Backbite? Physical, Verbal, and Relational Aggression in Reality Television Programs.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 541: 282–298. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Culpeper and Holmes 2013Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Impoliteness has been an essential theme in the current literature (Culpeper and Holmes 2013Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Garcés-Conejos Blitvich et al. 2013Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar, Patricia Bou-Franch, and Nuria Lorenzo-Dus 2013 “Identity and Impoliteness: The Expert in the Talent Show Idol .” Journal of Politeness Research 9: 97–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarGarcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar, Patricia Bou-Franch, and Nuria Lorenzo-Dus 2013 “Identity and Impoliteness: The Expert in the Talent Show Idol.” Journal of Politeness Research 91: 97–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lorenzo-Dus et al. 2013Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (eds.) 2013 Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLorenzo-Dus, Nuria, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (eds.) 2013 Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi et al. 2013Migdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Khaled Abu Abbas 2013 “Conflict Talk and Argumentative Strategies in Highly Adversarial Talk Shows: The Case of Al-Jazeera’s The Opposite Direction .” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 9: 93–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Khaled Abu Abbas 2013 “Conflict Talk and Argumentative Strategies in Highly Adversarial Talk Shows: The Case of Al-Jazeera’s The Opposite Direction.” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 91: 93–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) due to the attention it attracts from the audience (Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).

Some studies have examined politeness-related issues (Chen 1993Chen, Rong 1993 “Responding to Compliments: A Contrastive Study of Politeness Strategies between American English and Chinese Speakers.” Journal of Pragmatics 20: 40–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Rong 1993 “Responding to Compliments: A Contrastive Study of Politeness Strategies between American English and Chinese Speakers.” Journal of Pragmatics 201: 40–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Weiland 1995; Lorenzo-Dus 2001Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria 2001 “Compliment Responses among British and Spanish University Students: A Contrastive Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 33: 107–127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLorenzo-Dus, Nuria 2001 “Compliment Responses among British and Spanish University Students: A Contrastive Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 331: 107–127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Culpeper and Holmes 2013Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Chen and Rau 2015Chen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 35: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 351: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Olutayo 2015Olutayo, Grace 2015 “Cooperation and Politeness in Television Discourse.” World Journal of English Language 5: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarOlutayo, Grace 2015 “Cooperation and Politeness in Television Discourse.” World Journal of English Language 51: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) using data primarily from English-speaking cultures and sporadically from other communities. For example, Culpeper and Holmes (2013)Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, in their investigation of judges’ politeness and impoliteness in American and British talent shows, concluded that Americans were more likely to offer supportive language to unsuccessful competitors, while British juries tended to employ more critical remarks. Similarly, Olutayo (2015)Olutayo, Grace 2015 “Cooperation and Politeness in Television Discourse.” World Journal of English Language 5: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarOlutayo, Grace 2015 “Cooperation and Politeness in Television Discourse.” World Journal of English Language 51: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar investigated three popular Nigerian TV talk shows based on Grice’s Cooperative Principle and Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory. The study revealed that despite the hosts’ and participants’ attempts to cooperate and display politeness in their interactions, many instances of face-threatening acts and flouting of Gricean maxims occurred. In the Chinese context, Chen and Rau (2015)Chen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 35: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 351: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar investigated compliments and criticisms in Taiwanese talent shows and found that the judges’ comments were mostly complimentary compared to criticisms.

While these analyses provide evidence of linguistic politeness on RTV shows, more studies are needed to develop a fuller picture of judges’ language, whether supportive or non-supportive, in such contexts. In Arabic, although compliments have been investigated in different communities and contexts (Farghal and Al-Khatib 2001Farghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 22: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 221: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Mursy and Wilson 2001Mursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 20: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 201: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farghal and Haggan 2006Farghal, Mohammed, and Madeline Haggan 2006 “Compliment Behaviour in Bilingual Kuwaiti College Students.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 9: 94–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Madeline Haggan 2006 “Compliment Behaviour in Bilingual Kuwaiti College Students.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 91: 94–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; AlAmro 2013AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Alobaisi 2021Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.; Dendenne 2021Dendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 172: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 1721: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; El-Dakhs 2021El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 12: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarEl-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 121: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), to the researchers’ best knowledge, no study has focused on judges’ complimentary behavior in Arabic TV shows. Talent shows like the Idol series have received a great deal of popularity in the Arab world and their success has been clear, as many stars were discovered and quickly became icons in the Arab music world. In addition, the media discourse of RTV shows constitutes an appropriate avenue for obtaining naturally occurring data about compliments.

The complimenting behavior examined here occurs within the parameters of the cultural patterns of Arabic communication. A message is typically not directly communicated and the Arab culture typically exhibits a symbolic and implicit communication style (Cohen 1987Cohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 11: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 111: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Zaharna 1995Zaharna, R. S. 1995 “Understanding Cultural Preferences of Arab Communication Patterns.” Public Relations Review 21: 241–255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarZaharna, R. S. 1995 “Understanding Cultural Preferences of Arab Communication Patterns.” Public Relations Review 211: 241–255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Feghali 1997Feghali, Ellen 1997 “Arab Culture Communication Patterns.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 21: 345–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFeghali, Ellen 1997 “Arab Culture Communication Patterns.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 211: 345–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Davies and Bentahila 2012Davies, Eirlys, and Abdelali Bentahila 2012 “Anglo–Arab Intercultural Communication.” In The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication, ed. by Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott Kiesling, and Elizabeth Rangel, 231–251. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDavies, Eirlys, and Abdelali Bentahila 2012 “Anglo–Arab Intercultural Communication.” In The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication, ed. by Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott Kiesling, and Elizabeth Rangel, 231–251. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). According to Cohen (1987Cohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 11: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 111: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 43), instead of being communicated directly, messages in Arabic are rather based on “circumlocution, ambiguity and metaphor” so as to avoid ‘candor’.

As a contribution to the growing research on the pragmatics of Idol shows, the present research examines compliments used by the judges on the Arab Idol singing competition, broadcast live on the Saudi MBC and Lebanese LBC satellite channels. More specifically, the study aims to analyze these speech acts in terms of their locutionary vs. illocutionary force, syntactic patterns, positive semantic carriers, and surrounding linguistic elements. The analysis is guided by Spencer-Oatey’s (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) rapport management theory which proposes a broadened framework of Brown and Levinson’s (1987)Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBrown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar theory in relation to the concept of face. The present study seeks to show how Spencer-Oatey’s theory can be applied to the discourse and interactions of RTV singing competitions using compliment strategies.

Compliments belong to a large set of actions and are considered ‘verbal gifts’ offered to enhance the recipient’s face and negotiate or affirm solidarity between speaker and hearer (Kerbrat-Orecchioni 2005Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine 2005 “Politeness in France: How to Buy Bread Politely.” In Politeness in Europe, ed. by Leo Hickey, and Miranda Stewart, 29–44. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarKerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine 2005 “Politeness in France: How to Buy Bread Politely.” In Politeness in Europe, ed. by Leo Hickey, and Miranda Stewart, 29–44. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Compliments are categorized as expressive speech acts since their propositional content specifies the speaker’s reaction to a situation where the hearer takes an active or passive part (Searle 1975Searle, John 1975 “Indirect Speech Acts.” In Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, ed. by Peter Cole, and Jerry L. Morgan, 59–82. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSearle, John 1975 “Indirect Speech Acts.” In Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, ed. by Peter Cole, and Jerry L. Morgan, 59–82. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). These speech acts are considered by Holmes (1988)Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar as a window through which society as a whole or an individual in particular can view what is valued by a relevant culture, especially when we realize that people may use different patterns to compliment and attribute credit to one’s good possessions, appearance, behavior, manner, characteristics, or skills.

Such aspects that are given credit would be valuable topics of study for researchers, and they may change from one language to another, making their study significant. In the present study, a compliment is defined as “a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some ‘good’ (possession, characteristic, skill, etc.) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer” (Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 485).

2.Theoretical background

Building on concepts in classical politeness theory (Leech 1983Leech, Geoffrey 1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLeech, Geoffrey 1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Brown and Levinson 1987Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBrown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Spencer-Oatey (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) presents a rapport management theory to examine “the use of language to promote, maintain or threaten harmonious social relations” in different communicative settings (Spencer-Oatey 2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 3). Spencer-Oatey (2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 13) proposes that rapport management comprises two significant elements: face management and sociality rights and obligations. The first component sub-classifies into three types: (a) quality face (i.e., an individual’s desire for others to acknowledge his/her personal qualities), (b) social identity face (an individual’s desire that others recognize their social identity), and (c) relational face (an individual’s desire that others appreciate social relationships with them) (Spencer-Oatey 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The component of sociality rights and obligations is sub-classified into equity rights and association rights of individuals as they are entitled to equal treatment in interpersonal communication and to engage socially with others. Therefore, the management theory does not only address personal needs, but it also involves sociality rights, obligations, and two interactional goals: relational, which are concerned with the nature of interpersonal connections and attach importance to maintaining the relationship, and transactional, which focus on accomplishing particular tasks in communication. In line with previous theorists (Leech 1983Leech, Geoffrey 1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLeech, Geoffrey 1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Brown and Levinson 1987Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBrown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson 1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Spencer-Oatey (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) considers face to be a universal concept and that every language provides an extensive range of linguistic options like speech acts, discourse content, and stylistic uses that can be used for face management and sociality rights and obligations.

Spencer-Oatey proposes that rapport may be threatened by different behaviors neglecting interactants’ face needs and communicative rights and obligations. Unlike Brown and Levinson, who developed the face-threatening theory from speech act theory, Spencer-Oatey holds that all language use is likely to affect rapport given its impacts on how people judge face-linked actions, obligations, and interactional goals. Spenser-Oatey (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 41) argues that due to cross-cultural differences, one should expect variations in language use, which may have “a major impact on people’s assessments of appropriate language use, and hence rapport management outcomes”. The theory presents several interpersonal rapport management competencies, including contextual awareness, interpersonal attentiveness, social information gathering, social attuning, emotion regulation, and stylistic flexibility (Spencer-Oatey and Franklin 2009Spencer-Oatey, Helen, and Peter Franklin 2009 Intercultural Interaction: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Intercultural Communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen, and Peter Franklin 2009 Intercultural Interaction: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Intercultural Communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).

Rapport management theory is applicable to the current study of the Arab Idol judges’ compliments. In addition to accounting for how admiration is used to build and maintain interpersonal relationships, the theory also elucidates the linguistic remarks that accompany the act of complimenting in different contexts. That is, depending on the nature of the interaction, rapport is established or endangered by the participants’ management of face, their exercise of sociality rights and obligations, or their focus on discourse-related goals. Since judges of the investigated talent show usually pay compliments on the performance, appearance and personality of the contestants, these speech acts are taken to have a positive influence on interpersonal relationships (Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), which is why compliments may be viewed as linguistic devices that are exploited to fulfill sociality rights and obligations of the interactants. Compliments can also be considered as solidarity offers that attend to the quality face of the addressee, especially after negatively affective speech acts (e.g., criticism, advice, request) jeopardize the establishment of rapport between interlocutors. Therefore, the theory seems to provide an explanation for the possibility that the management of rapport in the evaluation of Arab Idol judges may have a positive or negative impact on the contestants.

3.Research on compliments

Research on compliments began with the pioneering studies of Pomerantz (1978)Pomerantz, Anita 1978 “Compliment Responses. Notes on the Co-Operation of Multiple Constraints.” In Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, ed. by Jim Schenkein, 79–112. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarPomerantz, Anita 1978 “Compliment Responses. Notes on the Co-Operation of Multiple Constraints.” In Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, ed. by Jim Schenkein, 79–112. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Wolfson and Manes (1980)Wolfson, Nessa, and Joan Manes 1980 “The Compliment as a Social Strategy.” Papers in Linguistics 13: 39–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarWolfson, Nessa, and Joan Manes 1980 “The Compliment as a Social Strategy.” Papers in Linguistics 131: 39–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Manes and Wolfson (1981)Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and Wolfson (1983 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1986 1986 “Compliments in Cross-Cultural Perspective.” In Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching, ed. by Joyce Merrill Valdes, 112–120. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1986 “Compliments in Cross-Cultural Perspective.” In Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching, ed. by Joyce Merrill Valdes, 112–120. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and was followed by other investigations of this speech act in other English varieties (see Alfonzetti 2013Alfonzetti, Giovanna 2013 “Compliments.” In Pragmatics of Speech Actions, ed. by Marina Sbisà, and Ken Turner, 555–586. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlfonzetti, Giovanna 2013 “Compliments.” In Pragmatics of Speech Actions, ed. by Marina Sbisà, and Ken Turner, 555–586. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar for a cross-cultural review). These researchers focused on four aspects of compliments: topics, linguistic realizations, types, and complimenting strategies. Thus, complimenting acts require a topic or an occasion. Researchers have identified four compliment topics: appearance, possessions, skills/abilities, and personality traits (Manes and Wolfson 1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Gajaseni 1994Gajaseni, Chansongklod 1994 “How Americans and Thais Respond to Compliments.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Urbana, IL, March 31–April 2.Gajaseni, Chansongklod 1994 “How Americans and Thais Respond to Compliments.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Urbana, IL, March 31–April 2.).

Compliments in Arabic have been examined in different varieties. In Egyptian Arabic, Mursy and Wilson (2001)Mursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 20: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 201: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar argue that compliments are culture specific so any understanding of complimenting behavior in Egyptian Arabic must take account of such things as values, tact, courtesy, and general group, as opposed to individual values. Farghal and Al-Khatib (2001)Farghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 22: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 221: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar examined gender identity and an individual’s compliment behavior and the attitudes and values attached to it. Similar to other speech communities, they found that the speaker’s gender in Jordanian society constitutes a crucial parameter in the formulation and acceptance or rejection of a compliment. Migdadi (2003)Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University. similarly correlated compliments in Jordanian Arabic with the social variables of gender, age, and traditionalism, which revealed that people who share the same gender, age, or level of traditionalism compliment each other more frequently than persons who differ in any of these parameters. Migdadi and Jarbou (2007)Migdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/68: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/681: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar found that compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic are formulaic, employ a small set of syntactic structures and lexical items, and compliment topics used by the speakers are limited in number (see also AlAmro 2013AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.). El-Dakhs (2021)El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 12: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarEl-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 121: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar compared compliments between Egyptian and Saudi Arabic. She found that Egyptians produced more explicit compliment strategies while Saudis showed stronger preference for implicit compliment strategies. Finally, Dendenne (2021)Dendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 172: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 1721: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar investigated compliments and their responses in colloquial Algerian Arabic. His study revealed four main aspects of complimenting: compliments in relation to topic progressivity, predominance of formulaic compliments in compliment-trigger contexts, use of self-denigration and resulting compliments as interactional resources, and intertwining of compliments and divine invocations.

As regards the language of complimenting, this speech act is used in ways that differ from one language to another. In American English, it is estimated that 90% of American English speakers make use of the two verbs like and love when being polite. Similarly, two thirds of English compliments are said to be used through the adjectives nice, good, beautiful, pretty, and great (Wolfson 1981Wolfson, Nessa 1981 “Invitations, Compliments and the Competence of the Native Speaker.” International Journal of Psycholinguistics 8: 7–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarWolfson, Nessa 1981 “Invitations, Compliments and the Competence of the Native Speaker.” International Journal of Psycholinguistics 81: 7–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Manes and Wolfson (1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 120) also categorized the top three compliment formulas in Standard English as follows:

  • NP is/looks (intensifier) ADJ (e.g., ‘That shirt is so nice’, ‘It looks so comfortable’).

  • I (intensifier) like/love NP (e.g., ‘I really like those shoes’, ‘I love your hair’).

  • PRO is (intensifier) (a) ADJ NP (e.g., ‘This was really a great meal’, ‘That’s really a nice piece of work’).

Most of the existing literature on compliments focuses primarily on explicit compliments. However, the implicitness of complimenting acts has been examined in several studies (e.g., Knapp et al. 1984Knapp, Mark, Robert Hopper, and Robert Bell 1984 “Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy.” Journal of Communication 34: 12–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarKnapp, Mark, Robert Hopper, and Robert Bell 1984 “Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy.” Journal of Communication 341: 12–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk 1989Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Ye 1995Ye, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarYe, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Yu 1999Yu, Ming-Chung 1999 “Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Pragmatics: Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language.” PhD dissertation. Harvard University.Yu, Ming-Chung 1999 “Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Pragmatics: Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language.” PhD dissertation. Harvard University., 2005 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 48: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 481: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2011 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Boyle 2000Boyle, Ronald 2000 “ ‘You’ve Worked with Elizabeth Taylor!’: Phatic Functions and Implicit Compliments.” Applied Linguistics 21: 261–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBoyle, Ronald 2000 “ ‘You’ve Worked with Elizabeth Taylor!’: Phatic Functions and Implicit Compliments.” Applied Linguistics 211: 261–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Bruti 2006Bruti, Silvia 2006 “Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Translation of Implicit Compliments in Subtitles.” Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 185–197.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBruti, Silvia 2006 “Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Translation of Implicit Compliments in Subtitles.” Journal of Specialised Translation 61: 185–197.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Dirgeyasa 2015Dirgeyasa, Wayan 2015 “The Compliment: Its Concepts, Functions, Common Topics, and Typical Responses in Communication.” Proceedings of the Third International Program on English Language Teaching, Universitas Negeri Padang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDirgeyasa, Wayan 2015 “The Compliment: Its Concepts, Functions, Common Topics, and Typical Responses in Communication.” Proceedings of the Third International Program on English Language Teaching, Universitas Negeri Padang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Different linguistic characteristics of implicit compliments are proposed in these studies. As an illustration, Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk’s (1989)Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar research on American and British English presents a detailed categorization of implicit compliments dividing them into 11 types, including quoting another source, contrasting the speaker with the addressee, and contrasting the hearer with others. While some researchers separate explicit and implicit based on the absence of positive words in the latter type, Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (1989)Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar does not use this criterion in her analysis and provides examples of implicit compliments with positive semantic carriers. In a study by Ye (1995)Ye, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarYe, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, some requests without any positive affective expressions are coded as implicit compliments due to their structures that differ from formulaic compliments.

Some researchers (e.g., Kryston-Morale 1997Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farenkia 2013Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) have analyzed compliments in terms of the discourse units before and after them. Frankia (2013)Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar emphasized the employment of pre-compliments and post-compliments, where the former were expressions of gratitude (e.g., Thanks so much for supper. It was tasty!), address forms, greetings, thanks, exclamation, surprise, and questions. Post-compliments included thanks, offering help, wish, suggestion, advice, encouragement, request, and comment (e.g., Thanks for the meal, it was delicious! Can I help you clean up?).

Even though there is extensive literature on compliments in everyday interactions, a limited number of studies have examined these speech acts in other contexts such as the RTV genre. For example, in their investigation of judges’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors on American and British talent shows, Culpeper and Holmes (2013)Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar have found that American judges are more likely to provide supportive politeness to successful contestants than British judges who provided critical comments. This variation between American and British judges’ observations suggests that pragmatic differences are more related to cultural differences than dialectal dissimilarities. Chen and Rau (2015)Chen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 35: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 351: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar studied compliments and criticisms on the Taiwanese program Top Million Star using 234 judges’ comments. They found that direct compliments account for nearly half of their comments (46%), followed by compliments and criticisms, which were used in 29% of the data. This result indicates that the judges provided supportive politeness to the contestants on numerous occasions in talent shows. Lin (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar examined the judges’ comments in three singing competition programs, namely American Idol from the USA, The X Factor from the UK, and Top Million Star from Taiwan, regarding the compliment and criticism strategies. The compliments were offered significantly more explicitly than implicitly across the three shows, and that finding has also been found in earlier studies (Yu 2005 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 48: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 481: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2011 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Using Spencer-Oatey’s (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) model as a theoretical framework, Lin (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar showed that the judges used numerous compliments on successful and unsuccessful performances to create rapport with the contestants and manage the contestants’ ‘quality face’ and ‘association rights’.

In an attempt to investigate the complimenting behavior of participants in singing competitions, the present research examines compliment patterns used by the judges in the talent show Arab Idol in 2014. Consequently, this study aims to explore the compliment types and the strategies therein, the syntactic structures and positive semantic carriers that are frequently used, and the supportive and weakening remarks used before and after the compliment. Furthermore, the study aims to examine the extent to which rapport management theory accounts for the judges’ complimenting behavior.

Investigating judges’ compliments does not only help in understanding people’s cultures, social values, and the function of compliments, but it can enhance our understanding of how the linguistic choices are encompassed by rapport management principles such as the interlocutors’ face wants and interactional roles. Departing from the existing literature on compliments, we hypothesize that judges would focus on aspects worth complimenting, using linguistic forms appropriate for identifying the idol, or the best candidate.

4.Method and procedures

This section is divided into two parts: data collection and data analysis. The former presents the sampling and data collection method used in the study, and the latter describes the data analysis procedures.

4.1Data collection

This study examines judges’ complimenting behavior in the Arab Idol talent show, broadcast on MBC and LBC channels and is available on www​.shahid​.net. To this end, 235 compliments were collected from 120 judges’ evaluations of contestants, and these evaluations were selected from the third season’s episodes (2014–2015), in both auditions and finals. The jury panel consisted of four judges: three Arab singers, namely Ahlam Shamsi (AS), Ragheb Alama (RA), and Wael Kfouri (WF), and the Egyptian musician Hassan El Shafei (HS). In order to obtain a balanced sample, an equal number of comments (i.e., thirty) were selected from these four judges.

The talent show included two main stages: auditions and finals. In the first stage, contestants sang before judges, who commented on their performances and voted on accepting or rejecting them. As the unsuccessful (i.e., rejected) auditions included a limited number of compliments, they were excluded from the study; only successful auditions were selected following the study’s objective of investigating judges’ complimenting behavior.11.While the judges’ comments on the successful performances were usually complimentary, their feedback to the unsuccessful contestants focused on giving advice, criticizing, and explaining. These linguistic preferences may be attributed to the judges’ attempt to be unambiguous in rejecting a contestant. In such case, complimenting a contestant could contradict the judges’ intentions since a compliment involves a positive evaluation. In this article, the scarcity of compliments in the unsuccessful auditions led the researchers to exclude these performances from the study, although this exclusion could indicate biased data. The successful candidates sang live in front of the jury and audience in the second stage. The judges evaluated the performance verbally, and viewers were invited to vote for their favorite contestants to determine who either stay or must leave the race. The judges’ commenting behavior in this stage was similar to their comments on successful auditions since both usually included a compliment qualified by other supportive or weakening remarks. Therefore, the data were based on two comparable sets of judges’ comments: feedback on successful auditions and feedback on final performance evaluations.

In both stages of evaluation, the judges assessed the contestants in terms of singing talents (i.e., voice, pitch, tone, rhyme, and emotion), appearance (i.e., handsome men, beautiful women, smiling faces, style of dress, and hairstyle), originality of audition (e.g., confidence, independent character), and charisma (i.e., presence on stage, acceptance by viewers). All comments were offered in the presence of the candidates, although some were directed to them in third-person pronouns. In addition to the contestants’ singing quality, the judges’ evaluations of the final performances often played an essential role in guiding audience voting.

4.2Coding scheme and data analysis

As stated above, an utterance was considered a compliment if it is possibly interpreted as a positive evaluation of the addressee (cf. Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The compliments from the judges’ comments were classified into three main categories: explicit compliments, implicit compliments, and ‘macro-compliments’. Explicit compliments were usually direct positive remarks that contained at least one positive semantic carrier (Ye 1995Ye, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarYe, Lei 1995 “Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese.” In Pragmatics of Chinese as Native and Target Language, ed. by Gabriele Kasper, 207–302. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Mānoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Yuan 2001 2001 “An Inquiry into Empirical Pragmatics Data-Gathering Methods: Written DCTs, Oral DCTs, Field Notes, and Natural Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 33: 271–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2001 “An Inquiry into Empirical Pragmatics Data-Gathering Methods: Written DCTs, Oral DCTs, Field Notes, and Natural Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 331: 271–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Yu 2005 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 48: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 481: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi and Jarbou 2007Migdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/68: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/681: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Implicit compliments do not necessarily have words with positive meaning (cf. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk 1989Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and thus require specific inference from the addressee to reconstruct the admiration intended by the speaker. For example, the compliment naġmitak ħilwah ktīr ‘Your tone is very nice’ was coded as an explicit compliment because of the positively affective word ħilwah ‘nice’. On the other hand, in the utterance ʕumur ħad gāllak ?innuh šotak biyišbih ʕabdilħalīm ‘Has anybody told you that your voice resembles Abdel Haleem’s?’, by wondering if the addressee was aware of the similarity between his voice and Abdel Haleem’s, a well-known Arab singer, the speaker indirectly expressed admiration of the contestant’s performance, thus using an implicit compliment. In addition, building on earlier research (viz. Kryston-Morales 1997Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Migdadi and Jarbou 2007Migdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/68: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/681: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Farenkia 2013Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), a compliment was analyzed for its sequential organization in a judge’s comment. It was coded as a ‘macro-compliment’ that was usually qualified by intensifying or weakening remarks. Therefore, each judge’s comment represented a ‘macro-compliment’, which resulted in 120 macro-compliments.

Explicit compliments were coded for their syntactic structures and the class categories (i.e., adjective, noun, or adverb) of the positive semantic carriers used (see Table 1 below).

Table 1.Frequency and percentages of syntactic patterns in explicit compliments
Syntactic pattern Example Frequency Percentage
Pattern 1:
NP/PRO (INT) ADJ/NP/PP/V

xāmit șothā ktīr ?awiyīh

nature voice-her strong

‘Her voice is very strong’

  95  51
Pattern 2:
V PRO NP

ħabe-t șotak

like-I-past voice-your

‘I liked your voice’

  66    35.5
Pattern 3:
yā ‘Oh’ N (PP)/ ayh
‘what’ N ADJ PRO

yā salām ʕeleki u ʕala ?adā?ik

‘What a beautiful performance!’

  25    13.5
Total 186 100

The following are examples of how explicit compliments were coded:

(1)

?iħsāsik jamīl filġuna ‘Your passion is fine in singing’

(2)

?inti ʕan jad ?atrabtīna ‘You’ve really enchanted us with your voice’

(3)

?eš ilħalawa fi șotak ‘What a beautiful voice you have’

In (1), an explicit compliment was encompassed by a declarative structure in which the positive semantic carrier is the adjective jamīl ‘fine’. In (2), another declarative structure presented an explicit compliment with the verb ?atrab ‘enchanted’ as the conveyer of positive meaning. The compliment in (3) expressed admiration directly through an exclamational structure consisting of the colloquial question particle ?eš ‘what’, followed by a noun, i.e., ilħalawa ‘beauty’ and a prepositional phrase, i.e. fi șotak ‘in your voice’ in which the noun phrase is the positive semantic carrier. The data also encompassed formulaic compliments such as yaa salaam ‘How nice!’, ismallahʕalek ‘Excellent!’ (literally, ‘Grace of God be upon you’), and allah allah, ‘How beautiful!’ (literally, ‘Oh God, God’). The literal meaning of these forms pertains to peace, protection from the evil eye, and attributing glory to Allah. However, they were classified as explicit compliments because they deviated from their semantic meaning and acquired a complimentary meaning in Arabic everyday communication (for a detailed analysis of these religious expressions, see Migdadi et al. 2010Migdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Kawakib Al-Momani 2010 “Divine Will and Its Extensions: Communicative Functions of Maašaallah in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.” Communication Monographs 77: 480–499. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, Muhammad A. Badarneh, and Kawakib Al-Momani 2010 “Divine Will and Its Extensions: Communicative Functions of Maašaallah in Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.” Communication Monographs 771: 480–499. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alobaisi 2021Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.).

Implicit compliments were categorized into seven types: comparison/contrast, suggestion, intention, double negation, prediction, rhetorical question, and praising contestant’s country/region. Three of these categories were based on Lin (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, namely comparison/contrast, suggestion, and double negation. The remaining categories were based on the current data, which were intention, prediction, rhetorical question, and praising country/region. The definition of each implicit compliment strategy is provided in Table 2 with examples.

Table 2.Classification of implicit compliment strategies
Compliment type Definition and example
Comparison/contrast Complimenting by comparing a contestant’s performance with others or by using similes and metaphors (e.g., ʕumri mā šuft wāħad biġanīha mitil šotik ‘I have never seen anyone who sings this song like you’)
Suggestion Complimenting a contestant’s performance by suggesting that he/she pursue a singing career (e.g., ana ra?yiy ?inti maa laazim twa?fi hon ‘My view is that you shouldn’t stop here’)
Intention Complimenting by expressing an intention about a contestant’s successful performance (e.g., ?anā lāzim ?asmaʕlak kul yom gabil mā ?anām ‘I must listen to your singing every day before I go to bed!’)
Double negation Complimenting by negating unfavorable possibilities about a contestant’s performance (e.g., ?ana mā fīni ?ulak la ‘I cannot say no to you!’)
Prediction Complimenting by predicting a bright future for a contestant (e.g., ?inti ħaykūnlik dor fi-l-marāħil –l-mutaqadimaih ‘You will have a role in the advanced stages’)
Rhetorical questions Complimenting by directing a rhetorical question to a contestant (e.g., wayn kunti mxabyih hāda șșot? ‘Where have you been hiding this voice?’)
Praising country Complimenting by praising a contestant’s country/region (e.g., lak taħya mašr illi jābatik ‘Long live Egypt that begot you!’)

‘Macro-compliments’ were classified into three major categories: ‘upgraded’, ‘downgraded’, and ‘neutral’. In upgraded compliments, the initial compliment was accompanied by congruent elements such as repetitions, explanations, approvals, and congratulations. The primary function of such remarks was to strengthen the force of admiration. That is, the strength of the utterance increased with the intensity of the compliment. Consider the following upgraded compliment about a (male) contestant’s performance:

(4)

?na ħa ?ullak ħāgah miš-l-mafrūd ?a?ulha, bas ħalhā; kul wāħid ʕinduh nu?țit daʕfi llā ?intah. law-a-nā māsik war?ah baqayyim fīha l- ġuna ?innahār dah-l-

?udition bitāʕak samʕuh mazbūț, ?ițțāqah btāʕtak mawgūdah, ?itafāʕul bitāʕak maʕ i- nnas mawjūd; kuli ħāgah ħaddīlak ʕalehā tik tik tik. ʕan gad intah ġanet hāyyil.

‘I want to say something which I am not supposed to say [comment]. Everyone [of the contestants] has a weakness except you [compliment 1]. If I have a singing evaluation sheet today, your audition is accurate [compliment 2]; your energy is evident [compliment 3]; and your interaction with the audience is evident [compliment 4]; I’ll give you ‘tick’, ‘tick’, ‘tick’ on everything [restatement]. Really, your singing was magnificent [compliment 5]’

The positive evaluation in (4) begins with ‘compliment 1’, in which the addressee’s performance is considered better than the other contestants’. This praise is not only intensified by the previous comment emphasizing the importance of the upcoming information but also by the three subsequent compliments that separately reveal the addressee’s superiority in the audition, his energy, and his interaction with the audience. In addition, the subsequent ‘restatement’ and ‘compliment 5’ reiterate the judge’s admiration of the contestant, removing any ambiguity about the judge’s encouraging attitude.

Conversely, downgraded compliments are used when a compliment is accompanied by one or more negatively affective remarks, e.g. unmitigated requests, disagreements, and criticisms, that serve to weaken its positive meaning, as shown in (5) below:

(5)

mā fi šakk innuh ʕindak xāmih țabīʕiyyih ħilwih, bas leh ʕam tġayyir laħn ilġniyyih leh ʕam tāxudnā ʕamațraħ tāni miš mʕawadīn ʕaleh; ?iħnā șārlilnā snīn fi-l-fan mā ʕam nistarji nzīd ʕala ?uġniyyih.

‘You have undoubtedly nice natural voice [compliment], but why are you changing the tone of the song [criticism 1]? Why are you taking us to a different level which we are not familiar with [criticism 2]? We (i.e. the judges) have been singers for many years, but we dare not add anything to a song [explanation]’

Here, the judge’s admiration of the contestant’s performance is reduced by ‘criticism 1’ and ‘criticism 2’, both calling into question the advantage of his changing of the song tone. Finally, in neutral compliments, the illocutionary force is neither upgraded nor downgraded, as in (6) and (7):

(6)

?anā ħabaytak ‘I like you’

(7)

xāmit šotak ʕajbatni ktīr ‘I like your voice very much’

To ensure the reliability of this analysis, the researchers repeated the exact coding operations a week later using the same codes. The correlation coefficient of this operation was consistent with a percentage equal to (0.92%). That is to say, there is a high coincidence between the two analyses.

Quantitatively, the compliments were tabulated and compared according to the degree of re-occurrence. Frequencies and percentages were used to determine the commonness of explicit and implicit compliments, the predominant syntactic structures and positive semantic carriers in explicit compliments, and the strategies of compliment used in implicit compliments. Frequencies and percentages were also used in macro-compliments to compare ‘upgraded compliments’ with ‘weakened compliments’ and ‘neutral compliments’.

5.Results

This section presents the findings of the study by identifying the linguistic features of compliments with illustrative examples where appropriate. To be more inclusive, the research findings are compared with those of previous studies conducted in different cultural settings.

5.1Explicit vs. implicit compliments

Explicit compliments outnumbered implicit compliments, accounting for 79.1% (n = 186) of the data, while the latter category accounted for only 20.9% (n = 49). This finding was replicated in earlier research on this speech act in different communication contexts (Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Yu 2005 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 48: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005 “Sociolinguistic Competence in the Complimenting Act of Native Chinese and American English Speakers: A Mirror of Cultural Value.” Language and Speech 481: 91–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2011 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2011 “Learning How to Read Situations and Know What is the Right Thing to Say or Do in an L2: A Study of Socio-Cultural Competence and Language Transfer.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 1127–1147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi and Jarbou 2007Migdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/68: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/681: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Chen and Rau 2015Chen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 35: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 351: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Thus, people in different cultures tend to pay compliments explicitly rather than implicitly, regardless of interactional situations. However, a considerable proportion of implicit compliments appeared in the data, which is consistent with Lin’s (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar findings for similar data. Therefore, it is not uncommon for judges to express admiration for contestants in this type of interactional setting without following the typical forms of compliments. Examined within the context of Arabic rhetoric, this finding is consistent with studies that consider indirectness as a defining feature of Arabic communication, as pointed out above (Cohen 1987Cohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 11: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCohen, Raymond 1987 “Problems in Intercultural Communication in Egyptian-American Diplomatic Relations.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 111: 29–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Zaharna 1995Zaharna, R. S. 1995 “Understanding Cultural Preferences of Arab Communication Patterns.” Public Relations Review 21: 241–255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarZaharna, R. S. 1995 “Understanding Cultural Preferences of Arab Communication Patterns.” Public Relations Review 211: 241–255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Feghali 1997Feghali, Ellen 1997 “Arab Culture Communication Patterns.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 21: 345–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFeghali, Ellen 1997 “Arab Culture Communication Patterns.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 211: 345–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Davies and Bentahila 2012Davies, Eirlys, and Abdelali Bentahila 2012 “Anglo–Arab Intercultural Communication.” In The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication, ed. by Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott Kiesling, and Elizabeth Rangel, 231–251. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDavies, Eirlys, and Abdelali Bentahila 2012 “Anglo–Arab Intercultural Communication.” In The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication, ed. by Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott Kiesling, and Elizabeth Rangel, 231–251. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). For a deeper analysis of judges’ complimentary behavior, we examined both explicit and implicit compliments separately in terms of their linguistic features and the implications of such findings for the study of compliments.

5.1.1Explicit compliments

As was the case in previous studies of compliments (Manes and Wolfson 1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Manes 1983Manes, Joan 1983 “Compliments: A Mirror of Cultural Values.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Elliot Judd, and Nessa Wolfson, 96–112. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan 1983 “Compliments: A Mirror of Cultural Values.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Elliot Judd, and Nessa Wolfson, 96–112. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Wolfson 1983 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1984; Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1995; Kryston-Morale 1997Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farenkia 2013Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), explicit compliments draw on a limited number of syntactic patterns, each of which includes at least one lexical item carrying a positive meaning. As for the arrangement of words, explicit compliments are encompassed in three major sentence patterns, as shown in Table 1. Pattern 1 (i.e., NP/PRO (INT) ADJ/NP/PP/V) is the most frequently used, accounting for 51%, followed by Pattern 2 (i.e., V PRO NP), which includes 35.5% of this category. Pattern 3 (i.e., yā ‘Oh’ N (PP)/ ayh ‘what’ N ADJ PRO) is the least occurring structure, accounting for only 13.5% of explicit compliments. Both Patterns 1 and 2 are declarative structures, where compliments are presented as statements. This indicates that complimenters’ admiration is straightforward in the majority of the data (86%). However, depending on the order of the words, each of the patterns has a different focus of admiration. In Pattern 1, the positive meaning occurs in the comment after the topic of the compliment is mentioned. Pattern 2, by contrast, includes praise in the verb that begins the sentence, and the feature of compliment is named afterwards. Since a statement is typically focused at the end (Kolln and Gray 2013Kolln, Martha, and Loretta Gray 2013 Rhetorical Grammar. Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarKolln, Martha, and Loretta Gray 2013 Rhetorical Grammar. Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the complimenter using Pattern 1 emphasizes the quality of praise while the object of the compliment is what he/she stresses in Pattern 2. Pattern 3 covers exclamatory compliments, in which praise is usually characterized by clear emotional depth. Moreover, while Pattern 1 is a neutral or objective assessment of the contestant, potentially oriented to the other judges and the overhearing audience, Pattern 2 is phrased in terms of the likes of the speaker (i.e., a more personal statement) and it addresses the co-participants. Pattern 3 covers exclamatory compliments, in which praise is usually characterized by clear emotional depth. Regarding performance reference, this pattern is positioned between Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 and is either objective or subjective. The contestant, the judges or the audience may be the intended recipients, even though the statement is focused on the object of compliment rather than the complimenter’s preference.

Regarding their vocabulary, like the case of earlier research on compliments (Manes and Wolfson 1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Wolfson 1983 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1984; Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1995; Kryston-Morale 1997Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.Kryston-Morales, Carolyn 1997 “The Production of Compliments and Responses in English by Native Spanish Speakers in Puerto Rico: An Intercultural Pragmatic Study.” PhD dissertation. New York University.; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farenkia 2013Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), explicit compliments were found to express positive meanings using four parts of speech: adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs. As shown in Table 2, adjectives (e.g., rā?iʕ/rā?iʕah ‘fantastic’, jamīl/jamīlah ‘beautiful’, ?aħla ‘nicer’, rahīb ‘fantastic’, muzhil ‘amazing’, ħilu/ħilwah ‘nice’, muwaffaq ‘successful’) are used most frequently at 63.5%, followed by verbs (e.g., ?abdaʕat ‘(you) nailed it’, ?țrabtna ‘we are raptured (by your voice)’, ?amtaʕtna ‘we enjoyed (your performance)’, șalțantnā ‘you entertained us’) which account for 20% of the words with favorable meaning. Nouns (e.g., jamāl ‘beauty’, siħr ‘charm’, and najm ‘star’) occupy the third position (10%), but adverbs (e.g., kwayyis ‘good’ and ħilu ‘nice’) are in the fourth rank (6.5%). In addition, some intensifiers (e.g., ktīr ‘much’, ʕan jad ‘really’, jidan ‘very’, and akīd ‘definitely’) are repeatedly incorporated in compliments in order to give force and emphasis to the intended positive meaning. In previous studies (Manes and Wolfson 1981Manes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan, and Nessa Wolfson 1981 “The Compliment Formula.” In Conversational Routine, ed. by Florian Coulmas, 115–132. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Wolfson 1983 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1984; Holmes 1988Holmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHolmes, Janet 1988 “Paying Compliments: A Sex-Preferential Politeness Strategy.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 445–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1995; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farenkia 2013Farenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 5: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarenkia, Bernard 2013 “Canadian and Cameroonian English-Speaking University Students’ Compliment Strategies.” International Journal of Linguistics 51: 69–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), adjectives and verbs are usually used to communicate positive meanings most frequently, and thus these two parts of speech are considered as common carriers of favorable intentions in different settings.

Table 3.Frequency and percentages of positive semantic carriers in Arab Idol
Positive semantic carrier Frequency Percentage
Adjective 133    63.5
Verb  42  20
Noun  21  10
Adverb  14     6.5
Total 210  100%

However, compared with findings in earlier research of compliments in Arabic (Farghal and Al-Khatib 2001Farghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 22: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 221: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Mursy and Wilson 2001Mursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 20: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMursy, Ahmad Aly, and John Wilson 2001 “Towards a Definition of Egyptian Complimenting.” Multilingua 201: 133–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Farghal and Haggan 2006Farghal, Mohammed, and Madeline Haggan 2006 “Compliment Behaviour in Bilingual Kuwaiti College Students.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 9: 94–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Madeline Haggan 2006 “Compliment Behaviour in Bilingual Kuwaiti College Students.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 91: 94–118. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; AlAmro 2013AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.AlAmro, Mohammad 2013 “The Sociolinguistics of Compliment Behavior in Najdi Saudi Arabic.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Alobaisi 2021Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.; Dendenne 2021Dendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 172: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarDendenne, Boudjemaa 2021 “Complimenting On-the-Go: Features from Colloquial Algerian Arabic.” Journal of Pragmatics 1721: 270–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; El-Dakhs 2021El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 12: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarEl-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam 2021 “Compliments and Compliment Responses in Egyptian and Saudi Arabic: A Variational Pragmatic Comparison.” Pragmatics and Society 121: 537–566. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the positive semantic carriers were found to be more diverse and included many attention-grabbing words. Thus, in addition to the common colloquial words ħilu ‘nice’, mrattab ‘neat’, and ʕajabni ‘I like it’, the data also included many expressions that conveyed a strong degree of admiration (e.g., rā?iʕ ‘wonderful’, rahīb ‘fantastic’, muzhil ‘amazing’, muwafaq ‘successful’, abdaʕat ‘you nailed it’, șalțantnā ‘you entertained us’, siħr ‘charm’, fannaan ‘artist’, and jabbaar ‘powerful’). Therefore, the positive meaning in judges’ compliments is expressed using a wider range of linguistic items than those used in normal communication.

5.1.2Implicit compliments

As mentioned earlier, implicit compliments are classified into seven strategies, which are defined and exemplified in Table 3 below. They include comparison/contrast, suggestion, intention, double negation, prediction, rhetorical question, and praising contestant’s country/region. This taxonomy is to a large extent comparable with one developed in Lin’s (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar analysis of compliments and criticism in American, British, and Taiwanese talent shows. In her study, five types of implicit compliments, that is, comparison, double negation, evaluation, suggestion, and want statements were identified. However, the current categorization is less varied than that found in a study of American and British English by Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (1989)Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, in which eleven categories of implicit compliments (e.g., quoting another source, contrasting the speaker with the addressee, and contrasting the hearer with others) were identified.

Quantitatively, Table 4 below shows the most common implicit compliment strategy was comparison/contrast, accounting for 28.5% of this category, followed by suggestion which included 20.5% of these speech acts. Other strategies which occurred in lower percentages include intention (14.2%), double negation (10.2%), prediction (10.2%), rhetorical question (10.2%), and praising country (6.2%). Since comparison/contrast has also been noted in several previous studies (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk 1989Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara 1989 “Praising and Complimenting.” In Contrastive Pragmatics, ed. by Wieslaw Oleksy, 73–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.; Boyle 2000Boyle, Ronald 2000 “ ‘You’ve Worked with Elizabeth Taylor!’: Phatic Functions and Implicit Compliments.” Applied Linguistics 21: 261–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarBoyle, Ronald 2000 “ ‘You’ve Worked with Elizabeth Taylor!’: Phatic Functions and Implicit Compliments.” Applied Linguistics 211: 261–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), it was considered as a cross-cultural strategy for implicit compliments. Likewise, double negation, intention, and suggestion were found in Lin’s (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar study on compliments and criticism in the RTV genre, albeit in small proportions. Therefore, these strategies are regarded as preferred methods of admiration in this type of discourse. However, unlike the findings in the current study, a common type of implicit compliment in Lin’s (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar study was evaluation. A plausible reason for this inconsistency relates to the coding scheme used in each study. Thus, the present study did not regard ‘evaluation’ as a specific complimentary strategy, but rather used this term to refer to the judges’ comments, regardless of its illocutionary force. Therefore, our coding scheme was designed to avoid the overlapping that might result from using this term to refer to two different concepts.

Table 4.Frequencies and percentages of implicit compliment strategies
Compliment type Frequency Percentage
Comparison/contrast 14    28.5
Suggestion 10    20.5
Intention  7    14.2
Double negation  5    10.2
Prediction  5    10.2
Rhetorical questions  5    10.2
Praising country of contestant  3     6.2
Total 49  100%

5.2Macro-compliments

As shown in Table 5 below, the most common type of macro-compliments was upgraded compliments, with a usage rate of 65.8%, while downgraded compliments and neutral compliments occurred less frequently, at 21.6% and 13.3%, respectively. Unlike in the case of neutral compliments, the essential admiration in upgraded and downgraded compliments was qualified by different linguistic remarks, depending on the complimenter’s purpose (i.e., intensifying or weakening the admiration). The higher frequency of qualified macro-compliments (i.e., upgraded and downgraded) compared with neutral compliments is in agreement with the findings of previous studies of this speech act in Arabic (Nelson et al. 1993Nelson, Gayle, Waguida El-Bakary, and Mahmoud Al-Batal 1993 “Egyptian and American Compliments: A Cross-Cultural Study.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 17: 293–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarNelson, Gayle, Waguida El-Bakary, and Mahmoud Al-Batal 1993 “Egyptian and American Compliments: A Cross-Cultural Study.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 171: 293–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi and Jarbou 2007Migdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/68: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarMigdadi, Fathi, and Samer Jarbou 2007 “Compliments in Fellahi Jordanian Arabic.” Grazer Linguistische Studien 67/681: 165–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alobaisi 2021Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.), where complimenters preferred compound to single compliments. For example, Nelson et al. (1993Nelson, Gayle, Waguida El-Bakary, and Mahmoud Al-Batal 1993 “Egyptian and American Compliments: A Cross-Cultural Study.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 17: 293–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarNelson, Gayle, Waguida El-Bakary, and Mahmoud Al-Batal 1993 “Egyptian and American Compliments: A Cross-Cultural Study.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 171: 293–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1995 1995 “Egyptian and American Compliments: Focus on Second Language Learners.” In Speech Acts Across Cultures, ed. by Susan Gass, and Joyce Neu, 109–127. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1995 “Egyptian and American Compliments: Focus on Second Language Learners.” In Speech Acts Across Cultures, ed. by Susan Gass, and Joyce Neu, 109–127. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1996Nelson, Gayle, Mahmoud Al-Batal, and Erin Echols 1996 “Arabic and English Compliment Responses: Potential for Pragmatic Failure.” Applied Linguistics 17: 411–432. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarNelson, Gayle, Mahmoud Al-Batal, and Erin Echols 1996 “Arabic and English Compliment Responses: Potential for Pragmatic Failure.” Applied Linguistics 171: 411–432. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) showed that compliments in Egyptian Arabic are remarkably longer (i.e., more elaborate) than those in American English. Therefore, compliments in Arabic tend to be accompanied by other speech acts rather than used in a single format.

Table 5.Frequencies and percentages of macro-compliments in Arab Idol
Macro-compliment Frequency Percentage
Upgraded compliments  78    65.8
Downgraded compliments  26    21.6
Neutral compliments  16    13.3
Total 120  100%

In upgraded compliments, a compliment tended to be accompanied by four types of supportive remarks: repetition, encouragement, approval, and explanation (see Table 6 below). The most frequent combination is compliment and repetition, covering 44.8% of the compliment strategies. The combinations compliment and encouragement, compliment and approval and compliment and explanation are used in fewer percentages, accounting for 23.1%, 19.3% and 12.8 of the examples, respectively. Therefore, as repetition involves emphasis of the message, the judges tended to upgrade their compliments by highlighting their positive evaluations. In addition, the encouragement speech act fits within hortatory discourse which is used for the sake of inciting and exhorting somebody to some course of conduct or action. In this study, the judges frequently resorted to encouragement to provide moral support to the contestants to boost their self-esteem. Accounting for 23.1% of the compliment arrangements, this format is the second most occurring after compliment and reiteration. This high proportion indicates that the contestants’ future vision of becoming famous artists is recognized by the judges. This strategy, therefore, is a means of attending to the contestants’ social identity needs. The compliment plus approval utterances often occurred in the initial auditions of Arab Idol, when the judges were entitled to accept or reject the applicants in the competition. In those interviews, by paying a compliment followed by an approval expression (i.e., naʕam ‘yes’), a judge would declare his/her acceptance of the applicant into the talent show. Therefore, such utterances may be considered as the starting point of the contestant’s singing career. Ranking third after compliment and encouragement, at 19.3%, the recurrence of this arrangement is another way of attending to the complimentees’ social identity face through identifying their social interests.

Table 6.Frequencies and percentages of combinations of upgraded compliments
Compliment combination Example Frequency Percentage
Compliment and repetition

ʕindak xāmit șot rā?iʕ ʕindak fi șotak iši ħilu

‘You have a great voice quality; you have something wonderful in your voice’

 35    44.8
Compliment and encouragement

adā?ik i-lyom rā?iʕ. istamiri mā titwaqafi

‘Your performance today is wonderful! Keep going! Don’t stop!’

 18    23.1
Compliment and approval

allāh ʕalek ?anā ?akīd raħ ?addīlak yas

‘How beautiful! I will definitely give you a yes’

 15    19.3
Compliment and explanation

inta muwfaq fi ?ixtiyaarak –l-yom.

il-?uġniyih bitnaasib huduu? șotik

‘You have chosen the right song today.

The song suits the quietness in your voice’

 10    12.8
Total 78 100

The predominance of the sequence compliment and repetition in the current study is consistent with the findings of previous studies on Arabic rhetoric (Koch 1983Koch, Barbara Johnstone 1983 “Presentation as Proof: The Language of Arabic Rhetoric.” Anthropological Linguistics 25: 47–61.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarKoch, Barbara Johnstone 1983 “Presentation as Proof: The Language of Arabic Rhetoric.” Anthropological Linguistics 251: 47–61.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Jawad 2009Jawad, Hisham 2009 “Repetition in Literary Arabic: Foregrounding, Backgrounding, and Translation Strategies.” Meta 54: 753–769. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarJawad, Hisham 2009 “Repetition in Literary Arabic: Foregrounding, Backgrounding, and Translation Strategies.” Meta 541: 753–769. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). These studies showed that repetition was considered as a feature of Arabic style, whereby the speaker repeats almost the same idea with minor changes in the words to achieve different communicative functions. According to these studies, the most common of these purposes is to emphasize the speaker/writer’s message.

In addition, the prevalence of upgraded compliments has been remarked upon in studies of Chinese compliments (Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.) and in data from American, British, and Taiwanese talent shows (Lin 2020Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). According to Lin (2020)Lin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 160: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLin, Chih-Ying 2020 “Exploring Judges’ Compliments and Criticisms on American, British, and Taiwanese Talent Shows.” Journal of Pragmatics 1601: 44–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, not only did compliments outnumber criticism in each of the talent shows studied, but judges also tended to use more than one compliment in the same evaluating turn. Thus, just as in the case of explicit and implicit compliments, the use of compliments in their expanded form is an intercultural strategy in different situational contexts. However, their dominance in the current study is at odds with research that found talent shows to be embarrassing because participants are usually disrespected by the judges (Culpeper and Holmes 2013Culpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol .” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarCulpeper, Jonathan, and Oliver Holmes 2013 “(Im)Politeness and Exploitative TV in Britain and North America: The X Factor and American Idol.” In Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, ed. by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 169–198. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lorenzo-Dus et al. 2013Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (eds.) 2013 Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLorenzo-Dus, Nuria, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (eds.) 2013 Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Finally, the use of a considerable percentage of downgraded compliments was replicated in Chen and Rau’s (2015)Chen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 35: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarChen, Yang-lien, and Victoria Rau 2015 “Compliments and Criticisms Given by Judges on a Singing Competition Series in Taiwan.” Studies in English Language and Literature 351: 1–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar study of compliments and criticism in the singing competition, Top Million Star, in which compliments followed by criticism ranked second in frequency only to direct compliments, accounting for 29% of the data. Downgraded compliments are usually preceded or followed by critical comments (e.g., adā?ak bšakil ʕām jayyid bas –u-?anā basmaʕak ħaset ?innuh mā indak hawiyyih ‘Your performance is generally good, but when I was listening to you, I felt that you have no [singing] identity’), while neutral compliments are used without any reiterating or weakening remarks.

6.Discussion

In this section, the findings of the study are explored within the three components of the rapport management framework (Spencer-Oatey 2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar): face management, interactional goals, and sociality rights and obligations. The judges’ complimenting behaviors demonstrate their attention to the concerns of the contestants and the sociality rights and obligations in light of the interlocutors’ interactional goals in the studied talent show. According to López (2008)López, María de la O. Hernández 2008 “Rapport Management Under Examination in the Context of Medical Consultations in Spain and Britain.” Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 21: 57–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarLópez, María de la O. Hernández 2008 “Rapport Management Under Examination in the Context of Medical Consultations in Spain and Britain.” Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 211: 57–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, interactional goals differ from face and rights and obligations in that the former are usually pre-established in the minds of the interlocutors, but the latter are interactionally managed and only appear in a current interaction. The discussion is divided into two sections: face management and interactional goals. In the former, how judges managed face concerns and sociality rights and obligations is approached, and the latter considers how the pre-set goals of judges and contestants are achieved in their interactional behavior.

6.1Face management

The judges’ complimenting behavior indicates their concern for the quality face and identity face of the contestants. For example, out of the 120 evaluation opportunities given to the judges, they paid a total of 235 compliments to the contestants for their singing ability, appearance, and personality features. Due to the high rate of occurrence (two compliments per each judge’s turn), compliments are considered as rapport-building strategies in which the complimenters pay attention to the quality face needs of the complimentee. Moreover, in line with Wolfson’s (1983 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 1983 “An Empirically Based Analysis of Complimenting in American English.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Nessa Wolfson, and Elliot Judd, 85–95. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 86) findings regarding American English compliments, a major function of this speech act in Arabic culture is to establish and/or maintain solidarity with the addressee (Farghal and Al-Khatib 2001Farghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 22: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarFarghal, Mohammed, and Mahmoud Al-Khatib 2001 “Jordanian College Students’ Responses to Compliments: A Pilot Study.” Journal of Pragmatics 221: 1485–1502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Migdadi 2003Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.Migdadi, Fathi 2003 “Complimenting in Jordanian Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis.” PhD dissertation. Ball State University.; Alqarni 2020Alqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 11: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarAlqarni, Saad 2020 “A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Compliments and Compliment Responses among Young Saudis.” Arab World English Journal 111: 231–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Alobaisi 2021Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.Alobaisi, Mansour 2021 “The Influence of the Evil Eye Belief on Complimenting Behavior among the Saudi Hijazi Community.” MA thesis. RMIT University.). In this study, given the predominance of explicit compliments (e.g., inta muwfaq fi ?ixtiyārak l-yom ‘You succeeded in your choice of the song today’) that directly express positive meaning, judges are usually straightforward in offering the candidates friendship to take care of their interpersonal face-saving needs.

Such establishment of camaraderie can also be perceived through downgraded compliments (e.g., șotak ħilu, bas batrajāk mā tġani ?aġāni bitjībilna l-kā?abih ‘Your voice is sweet. Don’t sing songs that bring to us sadness’) where a contestant is admired despite his/her inaccurate performance. These utterances occur in a considerable percentage (21.6%) within macro-compliments, suggesting that judges are careful to achieve affection from less successful contestants based on their associative rights. In addition, the repeated occurrence (13.5%) of exclamatory compliments in the study (i.e., allāh ʕalek ?anā ?akīd raħ ?addīlak yas ‘How beautiful! I definitely give you ‘yes’!’) indicates the judges’ fascination about contestants’ performances. Due to their emotional nature, these speech acts often point to complimenters’ deep affection for admired features. Therefore, one may interpret this type of praise as a way of focusing on the contestants’ identity, i.e., the need to distinguish by success.

6.2Interactional goals

The results also indicate the judges’ attempt to achieve interactional goals that derive from their evaluation roles and the contestants’ search for popularity. For example, in accordance with their social roles as talent discoverers, judges attempted to confirm the success of their candidates by literally praising their performance. As found in previous studies of compliments in American English (Manes 1983Manes, Joan 1983 “Compliments: A Mirror of Cultural Values.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Elliot Judd, and Nessa Wolfson, 96–112. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarManes, Joan 1983 “Compliments: A Mirror of Cultural Values.” In Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition, ed. by Elliot Judd, and Nessa Wolfson, 96–112. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), South African English (Herbert 1991Herbert, Robert 1991 “The Sociology of Compliment Work: An Ethno-Contrastive Study of Polish and English Compliments.” Multilingua 10: 381–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarHerbert, Robert 1991 “The Sociology of Compliment Work: An Ethno-Contrastive Study of Polish and English Compliments.” Multilingua 101: 381–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Polish (Jaworski 1995Jaworski, Adam 1995 ““This is Not an Empty Compliment!”: Polish Compliments and the Expression of Solidarity.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 5: 63–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarJaworski, Adam 1995 ““This is Not an Empty Compliment!”: Polish Compliments and the Expression of Solidarity.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 51: 63–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and Chinese (Yuan 1998Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.Yuan, Yi 1998 “Sociolinguistics of the Compliment Event in Southwestern Mandarin Spoken in Kunming, China.” PhD dissertation. Indiana University.), this speech act can be interpreted as a sincere expression of praise. This function is evidenced in the current study by the predominance of explicit compliments (e.g., ?il-?uġniyih bitnāsib hudū? șotik ‘The song suits the quietness in your voice’) in which the speaker considers successful performance as a matter of fact rather than a personal feeling, as can be observed in Table 1. Thus, more than half (51%) of the compliments were encompassed by syntactic Pattern 1 (i.e., NP/PRO (INT) ADJ/NP/PP/V) in which a judge used neutral or objective assessments of contestants’ performances which do not only address the complimentees, but also the judges and the audience. In this way, the credibility of the complimenter is enhanced, in line with the complimentees’ sociality rights, that is, the contestants’ rights to be supported and encouraged, since this is part of this genre of RTV talent shows.

Such matching between judges’ role as talent scouts and their complimenting behavior is relevant to the predominance of upgraded compliments within macro-compliments (65.8%), where the praise is doubled or multiplied to make it more emphatic:

(8)

allah, allah, allah ʕalek, ʕindak xāmit șot rā?iʕ ʕindak fi șotak iši ħilu, ?anā šāyfih gudāmi najm ?anā šāyfih gudāmi ‘Arab Idol’ ‘How amazing! You have something wonderful in your voice! You’ve got a great singing voice! I can see a star in front of me! I can see an Arab Idol!’

(9)

ġeneti ktīr ħilu; ?idiriti tistaġal ?uwit șotik mnīħ ; bahanīki ʕala ?adā?ik ‘You’ve sung very beautifully. You were able to use your voice well. I congratulate you on your performance!’

In these examples, the initial compliment is duplicated, rendering the expression of praise unequivocal. In (8) above, the opening compliment yā allah, allah, allah ʕalek ‘How amazing, may God protect you’, in which the speaker is fascinated by the addressee’s performance, is reiterated with four subsequent compliments that emphasize the former. Similarly, the first compliment ġannayti ktīr ħilu ‘You’ve sung so beautifully’ in (9) is restated by an explanatory remark and the subsequent use of congratulatory words. Therefore, since judges usually pay upgraded compliments to the contestants, they are prone to emphasize their praise in line with their social obligation as evaluators of these candidates. This commitment to their professional responsibility is also manifested by their use of considerable numbers of encouragements and approvals within upgraded compliments (Table 6, Section 5.2). That is, judges tended to raise the spirits of their candidates and accept their performances in agreement with their initial selection of them in the singing competition.

In addition, the findings regarding judges’ explicit admiration can be understood in relation to their role as participants in an RTV program. That is, since this genre of communication is expected to be unambiguous (Ren 2014Ren, Wei 2014 “A Longitudinal Investigation into L2 Learners’ Cognitive Processes during Study Abroad.” Applied Linguistics 35: 575–594. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarRen, Wei 2014 “A Longitudinal Investigation into L2 Learners’ Cognitive Processes during Study Abroad.” Applied Linguistics 351: 575–594. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Ren and Woodfield 2016Ren, Wei, and Helen Woodfield 2016 “Chinese Females’ Date Refusals in Reality TV Shows: Expressing Involvement or Independence?” Discourse, Context & Media 13: 89–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarRen, Wei, and Helen Woodfield 2016 “Chinese Females’ Date Refusals in Reality TV Shows: Expressing Involvement or Independence?” Discourse, Context & Media 131: 89–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the jury used more explicit compliments than implicit compliments when committing to their social roles (79.1% vs. 20.9%). Finally, consistent with their roles as professional singers and composers, judges often ensured the accuracy of their supporting comments regarding the contestants’ singing. Thus, in addition to using many mechanical compliments, a variety of implicit compliments (Section 5.1.2) and positive semantic carriers (Section 5.1.1) were often chosen to account for individual differences. Besides, to avoid passing vague judgments, the jury often paid compliments using three different syntactic patterns (Section 5.1.1) in accordance with quality of performances presented by the contestants. Thus, while Pattern 1 emphasized the positive meaning being asserted, the focus in Pattern 2 was on the feature being complimented.

7.Conclusion

The present study has examined judges’ complimenting behavior in the Arab Idol talent show based on a corpus of compliments taken from the third season of the show. Complimenters focused their admiration on the contestants’ singing abilities, appearance, and personal traits, and usually express admiration explicitly using three main syntactic patterns in which positive meaning was frequently communicated by adjectives and verbs, and occasionally, nouns and adverbs. Judges were also likely to use implicit compliments, relying on various structures to account for the specific nature of different successful performances. In addition, their compliments were usually reiterated by corresponding speech acts, intensifying the praise offered to the candidates. However, a compliment was likely to be weakened by a negatively affective speech act, e.g., criticism, depending on the quality of contestants’ performances.

The judges’ complimenting behavior was usually influenced by the specific conditions of the contexts in which the interactions occur. Thus, applying Spencer-Oatey’s (2000Spencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google ScholarSpencer-Oatey, Helen 2000 Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2002 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2002 “Managing Rapport in Talk: Using Rapport Sensitive Incidents to Explore the Motivational Concerns Underlying the Management of Relations.” Journal of Pragmatics 341: 529–545. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005a 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005a “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 95–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2005b 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 2: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2005b “Rapport Management Theory and Culture.” Intercultural Pragmatics 21: 335–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 2008 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 2008 “Face, (Im)politeness and Rapport.” In Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory, ed. by Helen Spencer-Oatey, 11–47. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) theory of rapport management to the data, it was shown how establishing rapport between the interlocutors and attending to their sociality rights and obligations correspond to the frequencies, organization, structure, and lexicon of the complimenting utterances. Statistically, explicit compliments were used frequently by the judges to indicate their attention to the contestants’ quality face needs since praise in this category is more evident than implicit compliments. The contestants’ identity face needs were also attended to by the judges’ frequent use of compliments supported by encouraging and approval remarks. This strategy conformed to the judges’ role as talent scouts since they sought to emphasize their candidates’ success.

The present study is limited to judges’ compliments in talent shows, but it does not consider the contestants’ responses to these compliments. Accordingly, to better understand compliments as supportive utterances, one may need to recognize the contestants’ reactions or responses to such positive evaluations. The contestants’ acceptance, evasion, or disagreements in response to the judges’ complimentary utterances often indicate to what extent it has been effective in inspiring them to pursue their singing careers. Therefore, future research may investigate complimenting events that include contestants’ compliment responses in Arab talent shows to determine their effect on rapport building in these contexts. The talent shows Arabs Got Talent and The Voice may also be included in such investigations to obtain a more comprehensive picture of complimenting patterns in Arabic RTV shows. In addition, exploring social variables such as gender, age, and power will potentially contribute to a better understanding of the role of compliments and compliment responses in the context of polite interactions in Arab singing competitions.

Notes

1.While the judges’ comments on the successful performances were usually complimentary, their feedback to the unsuccessful contestants focused on giving advice, criticizing, and explaining. These linguistic preferences may be attributed to the judges’ attempt to be unambiguous in rejecting a contestant. In such case, complimenting a contestant could contradict the judges’ intentions since a compliment involves a positive evaluation. In this article, the scarcity of compliments in the unsuccessful auditions led the researchers to exclude these performances from the study, although this exclusion could indicate biased data.

The abbreviations used are as follows

NP

noun phrase

PRO

pronoun

INT

intensifier

ADJ

adjective

PP

prepositional phrase

V

verb

N

noun

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Address for correspondence

Fathi Migdadi

Department of English Language and Linguistics

Jordan University of Science and Technology

P.O. Box 3030

Irbid 22110

Jordan

[email protected]

Biographical notes

Fathi Migdadi is Associate Professor at the Department of English Language and Linguistics, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan. His research interests include sociopragmatics, speech acts, and social interaction.

ORCiD logo with linkhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5575-7380

Muhammad A. Badarneh is Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English Language and Linguistics, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan. His research interests include pragmatics, discourse analysis, politeness, speech acts, identity, and positioning.

ORCiD logo with linkhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4765-0938

Areej Qudaisat has an MA in Applied Linguistics from Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan. Her research focuses on pragmatics, social interaction, and speech acts.

 
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