Rapport Enhancing Formulas in Prophetic Hadith: A Politeness Perspective

Abstract

Universally, language is used not only as a means of communicating information, ideas, etc., but as a means for maintaining and enhancing interpersonal relations. Each language has its own set of tools to achieve this end. In Arabic, as part of the Arab Islamic culture, there exists a large number of rapport enhancing formulas within the Prophetic Hadith. Formulas like: