Arab cultural communication patterns

In response to Shuter's (Shuter, 1990) call for the examination of communicative phenomena in particular societies worldwide, this article critically reviews the existing and, in some cases, contradictory research on cultural communication patterns in the Arab world. The article first clarifies the term ''Arab'' and provides boundaries for discussing communicative phenomena in the region. It then reviews recent investigations of Arab cultural communication patterns from an interdisciplinary perspective. More specifically, it focuses on several themes evident and available in the literature: (a) basic cultural values, (b) language and verbal communications, and (c) nonverbal and paralinguistic patterns. Following each theme are directions for future research. Finally, the article proposes strategies to overcome barriers to research in the Arab region and concludes with an extensive bibliography of resources. It is a hope that this article will stimulate scholarly interest in the Arab world and serve as a catalyst for the inclusion of Arab communication patterns in the teaching of intercultural communication, as well as in future research and theory development. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.