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Effect of Social Media on Arabic Language
Attrition
Prof. Reima Al-Jarf
Globalization, Language, Literature, and the Humanities Conference
in Honour of Mnguember Vicky Sylvester 2019
University of Abuja, Nigeria.
March 29-30, 2019
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Effect of Social Media on Arabic Language Attrition
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of Facebook on Arabic language attrition, i.e., decrease in
language proficiency, as exhibited in the use of Colloquial instead of Standard Arabic, use foreign words
although Arabic equivalents exist, and committing spelling errors. A sample of Facebook posts and a
corpus of spelling errors on Facebook were randomly selected and analyzed. Samples of college students
and instructors were surveyed to find out the reasons for this new socio-linguistic phenomenon. It was
found that most educated adult Facebook users use slang and Colloquial language. Some Arabic posts
are fully Romanized rather than written in Arabic script. English words are transliterated and inserted
in Arabic posts. Many adult Facebook users completely ignore Standard Arabic spelling rules. They
spell words the way they pronounce them in their own dialects. Users do not seem to recognize word
boundaries, cannot connect phonemes with the graphemes they represent and cannot distinguish vowel
length. Participants reported that it is easier for them to express themselves in slang and Colloquial
Arabic. They feel they are conversing with others, not writing. Therefore, they write the way they speak
and do not think about spelling and grammar. Results and recommendations are given in detail.
Keywords: social media, Arabic language attrition, Arabic language deterioration, language change,
language proficiency decline.
Introduction
Arabic is the official language of 22 Arab countries extending from the Gulf States and
Iraq in the east to Morocco and Mauritania in the West. It is the mother tongue of more than
400 million and many Muslims, who are none-native speakers of Arabic, learn Arabic as a
second or foreign language as well. Linguistically, Arabic is diglossic, i.e., it has a Standard
(high) form and a Colloquial (low) form. The Standard form is learnt at school and is the
language of print media and news T.V. stations such as Almayadeen, Aljazeera and BBC
Arabic. It is also commonly used by educated Arabs in formal situations such as conferences
and interviews. By contrast, the non-Standard Colloquial form is used in informal settings such
as daily conversation with family members and friends, when shopping or talking about daily
life issues. Each Arab country has its own general dialect and several sub-dialects existing in
the different regions within the country.
Before social media, Arab people used Standard Arabic (SA) to communicate in
writing. However, a new linguistic phenomenon has emerged among Arabs with the
introduction of SMS on mobile phones, online discussion forums and social media sites such
as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, snapchat, WhatsApp and others. People, regardless of their
age and educational level, started to use new forms and styles of communication such as slang
and non-Standard Arabic, i.e., using their own dialects, when they communicate in writing on
social media. Being the state of affairs, one would enquire about the negative effects of social
media on SA as a result of those new forms of communications used by Arab users. Buri (2017)
indicated that language is transforming. The Standard forms and grammatical rules of the
languages have been deteriorating because of social media and the new communication forms
that they promote. When writing a text, the punctuation marks are often neglected, and a
communication that uses emoticons, emojis and pictures instead of words has become popular.
Like other languages, the Arabic language that is used on social media is changing. A
review of the literature has shown a number of studies that investigated the effect of social
media and online communication on the Arabic language. For example, a study by Warschauer,
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El Said and Zohry (2006) examined English and Arabic language use in online communications
among a group of young professionals in Egypt. They found that English is overwhelmingly
used on the Internet and in formal e-mail communication, whereas a Romanized version of
Egyptian Arabic, i.e., Colloquial Arabic (CA) written in Romanized script is extensively used
in informal e-mail messages and online chats.
In a similar study with Jordanian undergraduate students, Al-Saleem (2011) examined
how social media might affect the identities and language of young people in Jordan,
specifically, the online written languages, Facebook’s new concepts, and Facebook’s impact on
language and identity. Results of a survey with 44 undergraduate Jordanian students revealed
that English is the dominant language used online. SA in Arabic Script was rarely used by any
of the participants in their Facebook chatting. Rather, online communication on Facebook
featured a new and unusual diglossia between a foreign language, English, and CA.
A more recent study by Chelghoum (2017) surveyed 78 Arab users of Facebook (32
English language Algerian students and 46 Facebook users from different Arab countries, ages
between 18-34 years to find out their use of Arabic language in social media sites, specifically,
Facebook, and to what extent it can affect SA and CA. The participants reported that they
seldom use SA in Facebook online chat. English, CA and other foreign languages are mostly
used. Arabic dialects dominate most online Facebook posts using both the Arabic alphabet and
Romanized script.
In Egypt and UAE, Darwish (2017) investigated diglossia and language attrition
prevailing in social media sites. He found that local Arabic is the dominant language used online
among Arab youth. SA in Arabic Script is not common among Arab youth. Most youth who
graduate from private schools prefer to use either a foreign language, a mixture of languages or
CA in Romanizes script. Darwish (2017) concluded that social media have a great impact on
language use, language attrition and identity. Shifting from one language to another within the
same conversation signals a change from one identity to another.
The effect of topic on the use of SA vs CA was the focus of a study by Khedher,
Abandah, Al-Anati, Ababneh, Zghoul and Hattab (2015) in which they collected 8,538
political, social, economic, academic, religious, scientific, sports, and arts text samples f rom
five forums. They analysed them according to several variables: (i) the language used: Arabic,
English, or mixed; (ii) the alphabet used: Arabic, English, or Romanized script; (iii) the dialect
used: Standard, Colloquial, or mixed; (iv) the style used: normal, metaphorical, cynical, vulgar,
or other; (v) the use of symbols; and (vi) text cohesion level. Results showed that SA is common
in serious topics such as religion and politics but CA and weak cohesion, with Romanized script
are more common in casual social and academic topics.
A similar study by Qudah (2019) investigated the effect of topic, gender, age, and social
context to identify the circumstances under which Arabic diglossia appears on Twitter and
Facebook and their effect on SA usage. The researcher found that the younger generation tends
to use written Colloquial Jordanian Arabic more than SA. SA is used among users of tweets
and posts discussing political issues, news and religion, whereas CA is used for discussing
informal topics related to fashion, sports, music and personal activities. Topic and age seemed
to be the most important factors affecting the choice of linguistic code on social media. SA is
used by the elite and educated people to show seriousness and value, whereas CA is used to
discuss everyday activities and to interact with one another.
To summarize, prior studies that investigated the effect of social media on Arabic
focused on a specific group of users namely the young generation in specific countries such as
Jordan, Algeria, UAE, and Egypt. They investigated variables that determine the use of SA
versus CA, English or Arabic, Arabic written in Arabic script or Arabic written in Romanized
script. Their data and results were mainly based on questionnaire-surveys. None or the prior
studies investigated linguistic features of social media discourse that may lead to Arabic
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language attrition (deterioration) such as Arabic spelling errors, the use of foreign words
(particularly English words) although Arabic equivalents exist, in addition to the common use
of CA whether in Arabic or Romanized script. Therefore, the present study aims to show how
written Arabic is changing due to social media. It will examine the effects of social media sites,
specifically Facebook, on SA language attrition i.e., deterioration or decrease in Arabic
language proficiency among educated Arab adult Facebook users, as exhibited in: (i)
dominance of CA instead of SA; (ii) use of Romanized script rather than Arabic script; (iii)
tendency to use foreign words, whether English or French, although Arabic equivalents exist,
i.e., they mix Arabic with foreign words; and (iv) committing unprecedented spelling errors. In
addition, the present study aims to find out why educated Arab adult Facebook users prefer to
use those linguistic and paralinguistic devices and how they affect communication.
Findings of the present study will be based on a content analysis of posts, comments
and spelling errors. A samples of adult Arab Facebook users will be surveyed to find out the
reasons for this new socio-linguistic phenomenon on Facebook and whether it affects
comprehension and hence communication.
Results about the negative effects of Facebook on Arabic language is especially
important, as it will help Facebook users of all ages, in all Arab countries, discern how the
different linguistic behaviours in Facebook communication are leading to Arabic language
deterioration. In its present forms, the current Facebook posts have a little role in enriching the
Arabic language content on the internet. Findings of this study will also draw the attention of
educators, policymakers and linguists to an alarming reality and will provide evidence
concerning the current status of SA on social media that shows the need for setting educational
policies for enhancing SA usage and proficiency.
Data Collection
Sample of Facebook Users
A random sample of 100 male and female Facebook users who are native speakers of
Arabic was randomly selected. The sample included Facebook users coming from different
Arab countries: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria and
UAE. They speak a variety of Arabic dialects. They represent different age groups: 18 years to
60+ years old. Some are students studying in Arab countries and some are studying abroad and
use English as a medium of instruction. Others are professionals: University professors, doctors,
lawyers, teachers, executives, computer scientists and others who have a good knowledge of
English.
A sample of 50 Facebook users was tested to find out their ability to decipher and
comprehend Facebook posts written in CA.
Sample of Arabic Language Experts
A sample of 4 Arabic language professors was selected and used to judge and verify
the spelling error corpus.
The Facebook Discourse Sample
For each of the 100 users, timeline posts and comments posted were collected over a
week. Thus, the corpus of Facebook discourse included 2,450 posts and comments.
Facebook Misspellings Sample
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A corpus of 1180 misspellings was collected from Facebook’s timeline posts,
comments, written in CA, in Arabic script. The majority of spellers have a college degree in
different specialties: Education, law, agriculture, computer science, engineering, languages and
translation, science, business, medicine and others. Some spellers are even professors and
college students majoring in Arabic literature. Repetitious words with the same error were not
included.
Questionnaire-Surveys
The sample of Arab Facebook users selected was surveyed and asked open-ended
questions about the reasons for using CA, for transliterating Arabic messages in Romanized
script, for inserting Arabic words in English posts and comments and English and French words
in Arabic posts and comments, and for using invented spelling and making spelling mistakes.
Responses are reported qualitatively.
The CA Comprehension and Spelling Test
A sample of 25 Facebook posts and comments written in Egyptian, Tunisian, Sudanese,
and Jordanian Arabic were selected. Certain words and phrases in each vernacular were
underlined. Another sample of 50 misspelled words from difference CA posts and comments
in the corpus were selected. The subjects were asked to read the posts, comments, and
misspelled words and explain their meanings.
Data Analysis
The unit of the Facebook discourse analysis chosen was the single post or comment
regardless of its length and number of sentences contained in it. Each post or comment was
analyzed and categorized in terms of the following: (i) language styles used (English, CA, SA,
Romanized CA, CA written in Arabic script, mixed styles). Data in each category were tallied
and percentages were computed for the whole sample. Results of the analysis are reported
quantitatively and qualitatively.
Foreign words, whether transliterated in Arabic or written in English or French, for
which Arabic equivalents exist were located in the Facebook discourse sample.
The sample of spelling errors selected was verified by a panel of 4 Arabic language
professors. Then phrases were broken down into words. Words/phrases were broken down into
initial particles, initial prepositions, attached prepositions, clitic pronouns, relative pronouns,
and definite articles. Misspellings were also analyzed according to the following misspelling
strategies used: Deletion, addition, insertion and conversion of graphemes or word parts.
Finally, Responses to the CA comprehension test and misspellings were recorded.
Responses to the questionnaire-surveys were analyzed qualitatively.
For reliability purposes, data analyses were double-checked by 4 professors of
linguistics and translation and compared to the author’s analyses. Disagreements were solved
by discussion.
Results
Linguistic Codes Used in Timeline Posts
Use of CA and Romanized Script
Content analysis of the samples of timeline posts and comments, in the present study,
showed that 64% of the posts and comments by educated Arab adult Facebook users were
written in informal, CA, i.e., their vernacular, as in example (1). Of all the posts and comments
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written in CA (local dialects), 40% were written in Arabic script. Emotions and emojis are
inserted in the posts and comments as example (1). On the other hand, 24% of the Colloquial
posts and comments were Romanized, i.e., transliterated using the English alphabet rather than
Arabic script. Arabic numerals are used to transcribe Arabic phonemes for which no equivalent
graphemes are available in English such as 7 for , 8 for , 6 for , 3 for , as in example (2):
1
(2) allah y5aleli yakiii w ma y7rmni mnkkk ya A3’la 7da b 7yatiii
.. Jad 7yati bdunk
ma b3tbrha 7yah... U’re always there for me. U’re the mom everyone wishes to have
but thanks god u’re mine
. Happy Mother’s Day
Romanized CA is characterized by non-Standard spelling, i.e. spelling variations of the
same word by different users as in ‘7abeebte’, ‘habibti’ or ‘7abeebti’; faulty spelling as in
‘Ghowata’ and ‘3arth’; deletion or lengthening of long vowels as in ‘3alek’, ‘7loomi’ ; use of
lower case in sentence initial position, in the pronoun ‘i’ and in proper nouns such as ‘rana’,
‘zainab.
Another finding is that only 14% of the posts and comments on Facebook were in formal
SA. SA is mostly used when citing verses from the Quran or Prophet Mohammad’s hadiths,
sayings, proverbs or lines of verse, condolences, supplications, newspaper articles or news
formally published in newspaper, magazines, or T.V. literary excerpts and when reporting news
headlines.
As for English, it was found that 12% of the posts and comments were in English. Users
who are proficient in English use English for posting messages and comments such as Facebook
users who are medical doctors, some university professors, English instructors, those studying
abroad, students using English as a medium of instruction, and professionals who use English
at work (See examples 3 & 4).
(3) Happy Birthday to u Happy Birthday Happy Birthday To u :D Wish u all the best in
your life . Enjoy and have lots of fun in your special day :D ^____^
(4) lol!! REALLY NICE!!!! thanx to make me on the 4th place!!! :))
Code-mixing
A new form of code-mixing was noted in some Facebook messages posted by Arab
adults, i.e., a mixture of English or French and Romanized Arabic. Here, Romanized Arabic
words and phrases are inserted in English posts and comments as in example (5), and English
words and phrases are inserted in Romanized Colloquial posts and comments as in the
underlined words and phrases in example (6). They mix CA with SA (See example 9). In both,
Facebook users insert Arabic Islamic expressions (compliments, prayers), politeness formulas,
and kinship address terms.
(5) No words can ever describe how great you are....and how lucky and blessed we are cause
you are our mum ........ Happy Mother's Day to the best mum ever. Proud of u...and
loooooooove u without limits moaaaaaa7. Allah yikhliki Lina o ydeemik tag foog rasna
(6) obala'3a ya reem al tawtheeeeeeeeeg ma 3endic laken de tharwa gawmeya 3deeel keda ana
mabsota menik , a5barek shno ??? best of luck in life in$a allah
Facebook users use numerous English Facebook terminology such as "share, comment,
mention, like, profile, account, post, message, timeline, tweet, hashtag, tag, update, messenger,
social media, and general English words such as look, class, maps, presentation, break,
location, term although Arabic equivalents to those terms and general words exist. Sometimes
the foreign words are inserted in their English form as in example (7) or transliterated
as in example (8).
7
7 Lenses
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Some specialists such as medical doctors, engineers and computer scientists who have
studied in English insert English technical terms, even the simplest ones, in their Colloquial
writing. English words or phrases, whether transliterated or left in their English form, with or
without their Arabic equivalent or explanation, are inserted in Colloquial posts and comments
as in example (9).
9 informative
brainmaps Medi_Maps_chest; rheumatology and
GIT
ILLUSTRATED Medicine )
medicine_in_capsule MCQ
.. )
Although such specialists write very well in English, their ability to write in Standard
Arabic is poor. Even their slang and CA language is full of misspellings. As in example (9)
above which is a typical post written in CA with SA phrases (underlined), transliterated foreign
words (bold underlined) and foreign words in the English alphabet. The post is full of spelling
errors between 2-7 per line.
Spelling Errors
Analysis of the Facebook spelling error data showed that 64% of the faulty units
consisted of single words, 34% consisted of two-word phrases and 2% consisted of three-word
phrases. In addition, 76% have one faulty grapheme, 20% have two faulty graphemes, 2% have
3 faulty graphemes and another 2% have 4 faulty graphemes per word or phrase.Data analysis
revealed the following spelling error types: Vowel errors 38%, pronoun errors 19%, particle
errors (17.6%), attached preposition errors (12%), consonant errors (7.6%), pause and juncture
errors (8%), definite article errors (8%), double /l/ + relative pronoun + Allah
(8%), hamza errors, i.e., glottal stop errors (7.6%), and silent grapheme errors (6%).
Arab Facebook users in the present study use invented, non-Standard spelling. Slang
words are spelled in invented ways that deviate from Standard Arabic spelling, as in
instead of “”; ‘” instead of ; “ instead of ”; “” instead
of “”; “” instead of “”; “” instead of “”; “” instead of “”;
“” instead of “”. They tend to spell words phonetically as they pronounce them,
especially in cases of juncture within phrases. In some cases, the attached form of Arabic letters
in word medial position is used in word final position. Diacritics are misplaced in others as in:
..
Furthermore, Arab Facebook users completely ignore SA spelling rules. They spell
words the way they pronounce them in their own dialects. The same word or phrase, in the same
dialect, is spelled differently by different users and two different words are sometimes spelled
the same. Error data analysis showed the following faulty strategies (deviations) in Arab adult
misspellings on Facebook:
1) Deletion of graphemes (35%) as in:
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2) Combining 2 words, a word and a detached particle, or preposition (28%) As in:
3) Substitutionof graphemes with the same sound (27%) as in:
4) Confusing graphemes (19%) as in:
5) Addition of vowels (16%) as in:
6) Shortening of long vowels (11%) as in:
7) Reduction of phrases and graphemes (10%) as in:
8) Lengthening of short vowels (9%) as in:
9) Faulty Hamza glottal stop (5%) as in:
10) Detachment of words and attached particles and prepositions (3.5%) as in:
Effect of Using CA and Unconventional Spelling
The subjects tested were able to decipher, comprehend and correctly explain less than
10% of the test items. They had difficulty deciphering misspelled words and phrases and
understanding what some users are trying to say in their vernacular as in examples (10-16).
When two different words are spelled the same, and when the same word is spelled differently
by different users, this will cause ambiguity, confusion, and difficulty in understanding what
some users are trying to say in their local dialect.
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12
13
14
15
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Colloquial posts and comments written in Romanized script slow down reading and obstruct
comprehension especially in the case of adult readers who are not familiar with the numbers
used to substitute phonemes for which English graphemes do not exist as in examples (2 & 6)
above.
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Why Arabic Facebook Users Use CA and Unconventional Spelling
The subjects surveyed reported that it is easier for them to express themselves in slang
and CA, i.e., their vernacular or local dialect, rather than SA, which is more formal and
inappropriate for casual communication and conversation. They feel they are talking with each
other, not writing. They think that it is more suitable to use CA than SA as they like to write
the way they speak. They also prefer to express their opinions in the spoken language which is
the vernacular, not SA.
The participants added that when they write something on Facebook, they are in a hurry,
they write posts on their mobile phone casually, and they do not think about spelling and
grammar. They do no revise or edit what they write neither before nor after they post it, as they
feel that nobody checks what they write nor picks on their grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Some specialists such medical doctors or preachers believe that they would reach a
wider audience when they deliver information in the vernacular and write the way most Arab
Facebook community writes as it is easier to comprehend by people from different backgrounds
and educational levels.
Few participants indicated that they write their posts and comments in CA because when
they use SA, their friends mock them and think they are using SA to show off.
Some participants expressed their inability to use SA as they have difficulty figuring
out the correct spelling and grammar, even though Arab student use SA in grade school for 12
years and study all content courses such as religion courses, history, geography, social studies,
religion math, science courses in SA, in addition to Arabic poetry, grammar, reading, and
composition courses in every grade level.
Why Arabic Facebook Users Use Foreign Words Although Arabic Equivalents Exist
Responses to the questionnaire survey showed that Adult Arab users of Facebook insert
English words in CA discourse on Facebook as a habit. Some said, “It is fashionable and
common practice nowadays”. It gives others the impression that they are high class, educated
and civilized. Use of foreign words is due to the use of English in the workplace or because it
is their specialty. Maha said: "It is very common nowadays to use such words. Everybody writes
like that on social media." Noura added: "In college I use English all the time. I unconsciously
insert English words when I write on Facebook." In the work place they mix Arabic and English
and Arabic, so they do the same when they write on Facebook.
In this day and age, it is more prestigious/glamorous to use foreign words such as: post,
profile, update, share, comment, mention, hashtag in their Facebook discourse. Maha indicated
that some people like to show off and brag about knowing English. "Knowing English is
prestigious in our society. It conveys a higher status in the society", Sara said. People like to
imitate T.V. anchors, artists and singers who code-mix and insert foreign words in their speech
and in their posts on social media.
The insertion of foreign words in Arabic discourse reflects poor knowledge of and lack
of proficiency in SA. Some said that they are not familiar with Arabic equivalents to the English
words they use. Other users do not work hard to search for Arabic equivalents in a dictionary.
Discussion
Linguistic Codes Used
Findings of the present study are consistent with findings of other prior studies such as
Al-Saleem (2011) and Darwish (2017) who found that informal CA is dominant in Facebook
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discourse. Even in languages that are not diglossic such as Dutch, Verheijen (2017) found that
youth nowadays use language that is more informal, more expressive, more concise and more
playful in their online communication. They use informal slang filled with abbreviations,
phonetic respellings and emojis in their social media posts, and use the Standard language at
school and in formal settings.
However, findings of this study are inconsistent with findings of two studies by
Warschauer, El Said & Zohry (2006) and Chelghoum (2017) who found that English is
overwhelmingly used on the Web and in formal e-mail communication and SA is rarely used
in online communication and social media. In this study, 14% of the Facebook post and
comment corpus were in SA. Like Khedher, Abandah, Al-Anati, Ababneh, Zghoul and Hattab
(2015) and Qudah’s (2019) studies, SA is used in timeline posts by the elite to post serious
topics such death announcements, supplications, thesis defense announcements, poetry, literary
excerpts and stories, and news headlines, whereas CA is used to state their opinions about casual
social topics, daily activities, jokes and to respond to one another.
Facebook Spelling
Findings of the present study have shown drastic spelling weaknesses on Facebook by
adult users such as: Confusing graphemes with the similar sounds, connecting several words
together as one word, ignoring the pauses between them, deleting final and middle vowels,
deleting particle and preposition vowels, reducing the definite article "/al-/, reducing double
letters and relative pronoun /illi/, substituting long vowels by short ones and vice versa,
confusing graphemes with the similar sounds, connecting several words together as one word,
ignoring the pauses between them. Some graphemes are no longer used. The same word or
phrase, in the same dialect, is spelled differently by different users.
These findings about spelling weakness by adult Arab Facebook users are inconsistent
with findings of a study by Verheijen (2017) who found that an active use of WhatsApp had a
direct, positive influence on spelling in the written schoolwork of Dutch teenagers. Teenagers
made fewer spelling mistakes. As a matter of fact, young people who use social media in an
active and linguistically creative way write higher quality school texts. Her study revealed
positive connections between the use of social media and how well students write at school.
There were even more of these connections among people with a lower educational level than
among those with a higher educational level. She concluded that, if used well, social media can
stimulate young people's language skills if provided that they type a lot themselves, turn off the
auto-correction and word predictor functions on their cell phones and if they are creative with
language.
It seems that the non-Standard Arabic spelling used on Facebook, in the present study,
is undergoing a simplification process. Users do not seem to recognize word boundaries, cannot
connect phonemes with the graphemes they represent and cannot distinguish vowel length in
their spoken dialect. Today’s Arab adult Facebook users seem to follow the Zipf’s principle of
the least effort, i.e., the expenditure of the least amount of effort to performing the writing task
on Facebook. Some graphemes are no longer used. Writers connect several words together as
one word, ignoring the pauses between them. They delete final and middle vowels, delete
particle and preposition vowels, reduce the definite article "/al-/, reduce double letters and
relative pronoun /illi/, substitute long vowels by short ones and vice versa. Some graphemes
are no longer used.
In this respect, Buri (2017) indicated that when texting, most people do not pay attention to
correctness. The amounts errors she found in her data is considered evidence that the language
deterioration can be pointed out in the online communication of the residents of Miskolc. She
concluded that some mistakes originated from the person’s poor grammatical knowledge.
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Respondents indicated that electronic writing usually includes mistakes, and people hardly ever
proofread their messages before sending or posting them on social media.
Code Mixing
Results of the present study about inserting foreign words in Arabic Facebook posts and
comments, although Arabic equivalents exist, are consistent with results of a study by Jaran &
Al-Haq (2015) that revealed that university students in Jordan mix CA with English terms and
expressions. In addition, Mustafa & Al-Khatib (1994) noted that mixing Arabic and English in
science lectures at Jordanian universities is a prominent feature of the lectures. In Lebanon,
faculty working at an American-style institution are unaware that they code-switch contrary to
what non-participant observations showed. Instructors code-switch in class and students code-
switch to learn better (Bahous, Nabhani & Bacha, 2014).
As in Kamwangamalu’s (1989) study, Arab adult Facebook users in this study insert
foreign words in Arabic discourse as a social class identity, education and modernization
marker.
Bahous, R., Nabhani & Bacha (2014) pointed out that code-mixing has become the
subject of much concern in Arab academic contexts as it is negatively affecting students'
language use and learning. It has been a subject of concern in Arab print media as this
phenomenon has spread to literature, commercials and T.V. shows and others as well.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Findings of the present study showed some common features of Facebook language
used by Arab users which is mainly characterized by the extensive use of CA written in Arabic
script and Romanized CA. Users insert Romanized Arabic words in English messages and
English and/or French words in Romanized CA posts and comments. Slang words are spelled
in invented ways such as using stretches of Arabic and/or English long vowels within a word
and stretches of the same punctuation marks or combinations of different ones as paralinguistic
devices to show emotions and emphasis.
Although, this new linguistic phenomenon is not unique to Arabic-speaking users on
Facebook and is also common among young adults using other languages such as English,
Chinese and Japanese, these new forms of Facebook communication may weaken the users’
linguistic competence and performance in SA, who might resist using Arabic script and SA
spelling and structure in communication in the future. Calls for Romanizing the Arabic
language script and normalizing the use of the Colloquial form in spoken and written
communication might be encouraged in the future. Therefore, raising young Arab’s awareness
of these linguistic phenomena by the media, by setting new educational and linguistic policies
for reinforcing the use of SA among the young generation, especially college students is of
ultimate importance.
Mixing foreign words with CA, in Facebook discourse, is a serious issue. It is annoying
to the reader and it distorts the Arabic language especially when users apply Arabic inflectional
and derivational morphology such as tense markers, plural and feminine suffixes to foreign
words (. Sometimes, this kind of discourse hinders comprehension especially
in readers who do not know English or do not know English medical terminology when they
read a medical post written in CA. Young people exposed to this hybrid language will learn a
distorted language that will affect their linguistic development. They will learn to write without
acquiring important Arabic words. The young generation need to build their lexical repertoire
in Arabic. If they get into the habit of code-mixing, Arabic words substituted by foreign words
will die.
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To help educated Arabs maintain their Arabic language and to counteract the
phenomenon of code-mixing, students should be encouraged to watch Arabic T.V. news
channels as they use SA and make lists of words and their Arabic equivalents (glossary). They
can also look up meanings of words that they do not know in Al-Maany Online Dictionary.
Schools and universities should raise students' awareness of the importance of using Arabic
equivalents through campaigns, symposia and contests that encourage the use of Arabic only.
Special Facebook pages and hashtags may be used to familiarize the young generation with
Arabic equivalents to foreign words commonly used in Arabic discourse on Facebook. A
website with online dictionaries can be established to help adult Arabic Facebook users find
Arabic equivalents to foreign words. Arab governments and Ministries of Information should
pass laws to protect and preserve the Arabic language and reduce the use of foreign words.
Experts should carefully confront Arabic posts written in Romanized script and mix of
languages and start a campaign to encourage the use of Arabic written in Arabic script and
abandoning the used of Romanized Arabic by Facebook users, considering its potentially
harmful impact in future.
Steps towards reinforcing the Arabic language in general and Arabic spelling, may be
taken by Arab Ministries of Education, following the steps of Saudi Ministry of Education
1
,
which has issued a directive for teaching Arabic penmanship and spelling starting from
elementary school grades to enhance students’ Arabic language skills.
Further studies that investigate the effects of using the online linguistic forms described
in the present study on college and high school students’ academic achievement, academic
writing and proficiency level in Arabic are needed.
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