1.1 Introduction
Most of Jordanian people are religiously committed. Islam is the main religion in Jordan. Therefore, in the religious domain, Islamic customs affect people's life and behaviors. One of these customs that people of Jordan intend to use is swearing. It is used to confirm speeches, attitudes, promises and beliefs. Swearing words are commonly used throughout society. They are noticeable and heard from university students, people in markets or in streets on the way to work, or even out in the community. These words are also used in mass media including television, movies, as well as magazines and newspapers. Children, teenagers, and adults utter them. A huge number of swearing words are used by Jordanians, especially religious words such as (wallah, by God), (qasaman billah, I swear by God), (wiħyat Allah , by the life of Allah), ( bisalatak , by your prayer), and others like honor words (bie'rd uxtak , by the honor of your sister)……etc. Acceptance of these words varies from person to person, from one community to another and by situation.
Swearing can be classified under social politeness. Brown (1976) says that politeness is" a special way of treating people, saying and doing things in such a way as to take into account other people's feelings". Social politeness includes various social customs like greetings, partings, invitations, thanks, swearing, condolences, and congratulations.
1.2. Definition of the term
It has been noted that swearing words are substitutions for words, phrases or expressions that may assert or confirm something. The word swear has been defined as" to assert or promise emphatically or earnestly" (Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2015). The word has also been defined in Oxford Dictionary as" Make a solemn statement or promise undertaking to do something or affirming that something "(Online Oxford Dictionary, 2015). Montagu (1967:100) indicates that swear words include "all words possessing or capable of being given an emotional weight". Jay (2000) adds that swearing is the use of taboo words with the purposes of expressing the speaker's emotional states and communicating that information to listener.
1.3 Sociolinguistic perspective
Since sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society, it is unquestionable to say that swearing patterns are part of language that is studied by this science. Therefore, the effects of social factors (gender, age and educational background) can be noticeable in such patterns.
Age of speakers is one factor that may contribute to different views of swearing. Jay(1992:71) says children begin learning and using swear words in varying degrees of offensiveness from the time they start using language ,then the admonition of this behavior follows. Parents no longer are able to watch or listen to what their children say all time. Simultaneously, the chance of using new swear words grows in the late teens and early twenties (Murray, 1990, p. 152).Also, Kasper (1990) emphasizes that young children and non- native speakers require time and experience to attain an adult native speaker's knowledge of what is offensive or rude. In addition, Holmes (1997: 199) handles some issues like identity, language and gender.
She suggests that "women’s identity is signaled not so much by the choice of particular linguistic variants which contrast with those preferred by men, but rather by the ways in which women are often required to use language to construct a much wider range of social identities and express wider range of social roles than men". Murnen (2000: 319) adds "it's theorized that language is part of the ‘societal propaganda’ that communicates social roles for men and women in the realm of sexuality". Regardless of language that someone speaks, it shapes identity and reflects cultures, including gender.
In Jordan the social factor that affects the most using of swearing words is the religious commitment. People who are religiously following instructions of Allah always try to avoid swearing by anything except Allah. Also, well-educated people avoid inappropriate words in swearing like (wisharaf ummi, by the honor of my mother). Furthermore, we cannot ignore the situation where or when someone utters the swear words like courts, mosques or when they speak with high-ranking persons.
2. Statement of the Problem
Swearing patterns have observable presence in Jordanian Arabic and different forms of swearing have been used all over the country. Moreover, the terms of swearing are formed in various ways and a number of social factors (age, gender and educational background) which affect the using and forming of such swearing patterns. Swearing expressions of their various ways by different people represent the problem the proposal study will deal with.
3. Purpose of the study
The main goal of this study is to explore and to analyze swear words that are socially used by Jordanian speakers. Moreover, it aims at analyzing what is acceptable or unacceptable among the speakers of Jordanian Arabic from a sociolinguistic perspective.
4. Significance of the study
It is assumed that the current study will help Jordanians to be aware of the power of language and its role to affect people's relations. In addition, this study helps them understand when, where, how, and why these words are used to recognize the values associated with them, and to know which of these words are acceptable or unacceptable. Furthermore, it identifies the most common swearing words used by Jordanian people and the most frequent words used by males and females. This study is also significant because it fills a gap in sociolinguistic study which is an important topic within Jordanian society.
5. Limitations of the Study
This study will be limited to a small number of participants, 200 respondents, from different age, gender and level of education in the north of Jordan mainly Irbid. The study will cover two dialects (Urban and Rural).
6. Questions of the study
The study tries to answer the following questions:
1- What are the most frequent words used in swearing by the speakers of Jordanian Arabic?
2- Do gender, age and the level of education of the speakers affect the use of these patterns?
3- What are people's attitudes toward swearing concept?
7. Literature review
In spite of the wide spread usage of swearing words, this topic has a narrow concern for the field of research from Arab linguists. Swearing words are widely used by the speakers of Jordanian Arabic to assert or affirm something. However, the Holy Qur'an and Al-Hadeeth warn people not to swear by anything except by Allah. On the one hand, God says (فلا تجعلوا لله اندادا وأنتم تعلمون) (البقرة:22) then set not up rivals unto Allah when ye know (the truth)(AlBaqarah: 22). On the other hand, our prophet Mohammad (peace and praise be upon him) emphasizes to avoid swearing by anything except the name of Allah (God) then he adds
(لا تحلفوا بآبائكم ولا بأمهاتكم ولا بالأنداد، ولا تحلفوا بالله إلا وأنتم صادقون) (سنن ابي داوود ,كتاب الايمان والنذور:باب في كراهية الحلف بالآباء ).Don't swear by your fathers and your mothers then swear not the rivals, and don't swear by Allah except you are sincere.( sunan Al-Termi'thi)
Montague (1967: 71) states "Like most other human traits, swearing is a learned form of human behavior in cultures and under conditions in which it is encouraged". So, the surrounding environment, situations and interaction among the interlocutors influence the speakers to learn such patterns of swearing. Andersson and Trudgill (1990: 15) argue that language reflects one's values “the sort of swearing that goes on in a particular language may tell you something about the values and beliefs of the speakers”. Then, they find that swear words are more frequent in informal circumstances than in formal ones. Jay and Janschewitz (2008) propose that "interpersonal swearing is a complex communicative act that is influenced by contextual variables such as speaker-listener relationship, social and physical setting, and the topic of discussion".
Smith studies the social meaning of swearing in Russia "much of the meaning of swearing depends upon context, upon the shared values and social intuitions of the speaker and addressee". (Smith, 1998, p. 168). Swearing is controlled by situation, context and the relationships between people. For example, what is acceptable or appropriate in a particular situation becomes unacceptable or inappropriate in different one.
8. Methodology
8.1. Data Collection
The data of this study will include swearing words used by speakers of Jordanian Arabic. To fish the required data, the researcher will adopt a personal observation method, an interviewing method and a questionnaire to collect appropriate and relevant data. Prior to the construction of the questionnaire, the researcher will interview some Jordanians of different age, gender, and educational level to discuss the swearing patterns that they usually and frequently intend to use. The responses of the participants and what the researcher himself observes will serve as a basis for constructing the questionnaire.
8.2 Data analysis
After the required data are collected, the data will be analyzed in accordance with the different items of the problems of study. The researcher collects the questionnaires and checks them one by one to see whether there are unfilled ones or some that do not returned back. Then, the researcher fills the responses using Microsoft Office Excel sheets. The researcher analyzes these responses depending on the sociolinguistics perspective factors such as: age, gender, educational back ground and