The Pragmatic Functions of Ħalāl and Ħarām in Spoken Jordanian Arabic

Abstract

The current study investigates the pragmatic functions of the terms ħalāl and ħarām in Spoken Jordanian Arabic. The researchers compiled a number of contexts which include the words ħalāl and ħarām in different pragmatic functions. The scenarios were first judged by a panel of jury. Then the last version of the scenarios was given to 50 native speakers of Jordanian Arabic. The results show that ħalāl conveys several different pragmatic functions for example, expressing something religiously permissible, as a synonym of Cattle, possessions and money among others. On the other hand, ħarām is also used to convey several pragmatic functions such as something religiously forbidden, religious terms as the secret months, and oath and so on.