Silence in Moroccan Arabic: A Socio-Pragmatic Reading of Film Dialogue

Although silence has long been recognised as a meaningful component of communication (Jaworski, 1993; Ephratt, 2008), its pragmatic functions in Moroccan Arabic (Darija) remain insufficiently documented. The present study addresses this gap by examining how silence is practised and interpreted in Moroccan Arabic interaction. Since recording spontaneous conversation tends to disturb the very interaction under study, and meaningful silences cannot be predicted in advance (Hernandez, 2024), the study draws on dialogue from four Moroccan feature films produced between 2010 and 2016. Six extracts were transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), timed, translated into English and analysed through an integrated framework combining Conversation Analysis, Speech Act Theory, Politeness Theory and Vološinov’s (1973) concept of multi-accentuality. The findings indicate that silence in Moroccan Arabic performs identifiable pragmatic acts, including refusal, resistance, face management and emotional regulation, and that its meaning depends on its sequential position, the identity of the silent participant and the power relation between interlocutors. Moreover, a single silence frequently carries more than one meaning simultaneously, being at once polite and resistant. The study argues that silence in Moroccan Arabic constitutes a culturally embedded and ideologically charged communicative act that merits a more central place in Arabic pragmatics.