The Discoursal Arabic Coordinating Conjunction Wa (And)

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the main discoursal functions of the most commonly used Arabic coordinating conjunction, Wa (the English equivalent of ‘and’). In order to do this, the researchers selected ten Jordanian parliamentary speeches to be used as the data of the study. In contrast to what has been heavily stated by Arabic linguists, the study showed that the Wa can have many discoursal functions. Upon analyzing the findings of the study in light of advancements made in The Relevance Theory, this research has provided further empirical evidence on how relevance considerations shape collaborative language use.