Research on intra-cultural and inter-cultural variation in the use and realization of particular speech acts has focused on language functions by studying language use in different communities (Blum-Kulka 1982; Fraser 1985; Brown & Levinson 1987; and Rizk 1997). There has been considerable evidence that speech acts differ across cultures (Blum-kulka 1982; Scarcella 1979). Some research on politeness and speech acts in Egyptian Arabic has been conducted. El-Sayed (1989) and El-Shafey (1990) deal with contrastive politeness; Morsey (1992) studies Arabic compliments and compares them with American· compliments; Mazid (1995) investigates complimenting behavior in upper Egypt; and, finally, Hussein (1995) provides a descriptive analysis of speech acts in Arabic, including apologies, requests and expressions of gratitude (hereafter EOGs), among many others. However, research on speech acts such
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