Conversational Guidelines in Western Culture and Islamic Culture

Abstract

Conversation is apparently one of the fundamental features of human communication. Effective communication depends upon the principles of mutual understanding and observance of social and moral ethics. Extensive research is already available exploring the conversational guidelines given by Western scholars and Muslim religious scholars. Yet, not enough research was found to locate the alignment between conversational guidelines in Western culture and Islamic culture for effective cross- cultural communication. Therefore, this study aimed to fill a gap in understanding cross-cultural communication by exploring how these guidelines impact conversational patterns. Employing the qualitative approach, the conversational guidelines advocated in Western theories of linguistic politeness and speech acts were compared to Islamic conversational guidelines given by a renowned Muslim religious scholar, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (May Allah bless him), in his book ‘Aadab-ul-Maushart’ (Etiquettes of Social Life). The findings revealed that despite the little variance, the conversational guidelines in Islamic culture not only align with many principles advocated in Western pragmatics, such as the importance of truthfulness, respect, clarity, and relevance in communication but also offer more elaborative and comprehensive perspectives of conversation in cross-cultural communication.