Speech Acts in Facebook Marketing of Private Universities in Sulaimani: A Case Study from Kurdistan Region

Authors

  • Mizhda Adil Hama Salih Department of English Language and Literature, College of Languages, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
  • Rauf Kareem Mahmood Department of English Language and Literature, College of Languages, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21271/zjhs.29.SpC.42

Keywords:

speech acts, directness, Facebook Marketing, private universities, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

The marketization of higher education has experienced rapid growth not only in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, but worldwide. This study investigates the types of speech acts and their directness in Facebook Marketing from two private universities in Sulaimani City. The problem addressed is the lack of research on language use in higher education marketing in this region. The objectives are to identify the dominant speech acts and their directness. Searle’s (1975) Speech Act Theory was applied to conduct a qualitative content analysis of 40 Facebook posts collected across two academic years, 2023–2024 and 2024–2025, complemented by descriptive quantitative analysis of frequencies and percentages to highlight patterns in the data. The findings show that Representative and Directive acts dominate, accounting for 90.16% of all acts, with direct speech acts accounting for 93.44%, in which Emerald Green University (EGU) exclusively used direct forms, while Navy Blue University (NBU) used occasional indirect forms for engagement. Therefore, direct language is common in this context to give information and encourage action.

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Published

2025-12-15

How to Cite

Mizhda Adil Hama Salih, & Rauf Kareem Mahmood. (2025). Speech Acts in Facebook Marketing of Private Universities in Sulaimani: A Case Study from Kurdistan Region. Zanco Journal of Human Sciences, 29(SpC), 826–835. https://doi.org/10.21271/zjhs.29.SpC.42

Issue

Vol. 29 No. SpC (2025)

Section

Extracted from PhD dissertation/MA thesis

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Copyright (c) 2025 Mizhda Adil Hama Salih, Rauf Kareem Mahmood

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.