Unveiling Meanings: A Pragmatic Study of Non-Standard Yemeni Arabic in Hajjah City

Abstract

This study investigates the Gricean theory of Conversational Implicature of the Yemeni Arabic variety. It is also an attempt to clarify the sorts and functions of these implicatures. The study followed the descriptive qualitative approach and the semi-structured interview was employed as an instrument of the study. With 16 respondents, the interviews were recorded, translated and analyzed. The data of study was interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of this study show the conversational implicatures relating to the Quality and Quantity maxims applied the Yemeni variety (a dialect of Standard Arabic). In addition, the analysis reveals that the particularized conversational implicatures were prevalent in the Yemeni dialect than the generalized ones. The implicatures further function in different ways as irony, overstatement, surprise, appreciation, admiration, and criticism. The study presents a significant contribution to the field of pragmatics and develops teachers' and students' pragmatic and communicative competence at the university level.