The Discourse of Dream Reports in Jordanian Arabic: Agenre-Pragmatic Study

Abstract

This study examined the tactics and components employed in Jordanians' dream reports to fulfil their communicative purpose. Drawing on Swales' schematic structure, six moves were identified. The opening move encompasses religious, formal, or informal greetings, often featuring a direct quotation from Islamic greetings. The second move involves the identification of the dreamer, typically utilizing the third person, indicating a tendency among dreamers to conceal their identity and refer to others within their family. The third move focuses on conveying the dream content, representing the pivotal element in the communicative interaction between the dreamer and interpreter. The fourth move comprises the request for interpretation, involving appeals to the interpreter for assistance in discerning the dream's meaning. The fifth move consists of appeals, which are prominently present in a majority of Jordanian dreams. The final move entails the closing, wherein formulaic phrases are commonly employed, invoking blessings from Allah upon the interpreter, expressing gratitude, or making additional appeals. The study highlights the significance of these formulaic phrases as a distinct move within Jordanian dreams, with prevalent examples being "Please, I need interpretation and thank you very much" or "I need interpretation and thank you." The corpus analyzed in this study was sourced from Sheikh Falah Mufleh's Facebook page.