Gender Representation, Power, Domination and Facework in Iranian Arabic Wedding Invitation Cards: A Multi-framework Analysis

Wedding invitations are unique communicative events in that remarkably diverse issues are summed up in one single setting. The present study draws on three major analytical frameworks, namely genre analysis, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and politeness theory, to examine three separate, but interrelated, issues, respectively as employed in a corpus of 97 Iranian Arabic wedding invitation cards in Ahwaz, Iran: a) component structure, patterns and moves and, b) gender representation, power and domination and c) politeness/facework. In line with previous similar research (e.g. Al-Ali, 2006), genre analysis indicated that the majority of these invitations are comprised of eight specific, specially arranged components. However, the order of the components was slightly different from that in non-Iranian (i.e. Persian Gulf States) Arabic wedding invitations. Besides, the results of CDA analysis demonstrated the substantial presence of religious affiliations, male hegemony, masculine power and dominance and consequently feminine peripherization and marginalization in those invitations. Finally, politeness theory revealed that, most frequently, positive and negative as well as mixed politeness strategies were relied upon to communicate ‘the message of happiness’. This framework also revealed a tendency on the part of the inviters to lessen the social distance between the inviter (i.e. addresser) and the invitee (i.e. addressee) by avoiding assertion of their power and creating a common ground. It is hopefully suggested that this research will be of help to cross-cultural understanding and communication.