The English Literature Journal
Vol. 2, No. 2 (2015): 281-288
Article
Open Access
ISSN: 2348-3288
The use of Arabizi in English texting by Arab
postgraduate students at UKM
Yuen Chee Keong, Othman Rahsid Hameed* and Imad Amer Abdulbaqi
School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Fssk, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: Othman Rahsid Hameed; e-mail: [email protected]
Received: 02 February 2015
ABSTRACT
Accepted: 20 February 2015
Online: 02 March 2015
Code- switching is common phenomena in communications, and people are generally inclined to learn its use in
communication. The present study seeks to focus on the use of code- switching in text messages, particularly SMS.
The study is comprised of 20 participants; 10 males and 10 female. All participants are postgraduate students at
UKM. Based on the participants’ answers, the study will analyze and discuss the inherent reasons behind their
preference for and inclination to the use of Arabizi; or the combination of both Arabic and English, in their
communication with others. Moreover, the study would seek to come to terms with and elaborate on the reasons
behind the use of English within text messages for individuals whose lingua franca is Arabic primarily.
Keywords: code- switching, SMS, Arabizi, English, Numerals.
1. INTRODUCTION
New technology represents effective means for coming
to terms with the rapid changes occurring every day
around the world. Perhaps the most radical of these
changes is the proliferation of smart phones, and the
increase in social connection which continues to
transform and shape the world as we know it. In this
regard, it may be noted that the forms and possibilities
of communication between people are various, and
ever increasing. During the process of communication,
an observable growing phenomenon is witnessed in
individuals’ shifting from one language to another
while communicating, whereas others may further
create their own new language as a common means of
communication between their persons. All these means
follow one goal; namely that of effective
communication. Accordingly, the development of
technology has occupied a rather prominent position in
the mind of generations.
The current research focuses on the linguistic structure
and socio-linguistic functions of Arabic-English codeswitching, particularly regarding the use of codeswitching for cell phone users, sampling a group of
native Arabic-speaking postgraduate students at UKM
in their communication with one another. As the users
make use of more than one language in the process of
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their shared communication a number of changes may
occur with respect to their mother-tongue and the
target language; specifically vis-à-vis the medium of
electronic media.
Mobile technology, by means of its proliferation and
common accessibility transcending social class, culture
and socioeconomic considerations, presents itself as a
daily impetus for code-switching in electronically
assisted communication.
The Short Message Service (SMS) is an essential facility
in the cell phone industry. In effect, the SMS is a service
that allows its users to send short messages from one
mobile phone to another, or to another mobile phone
via the Internet (Hard afSegerstad 2002: 187).
Moreover, Hard afSegerstad (2002: 187) point out that
“each short message is up to 160 characters in length
when Latin alphabets are used and 70 characters in
length when non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic are
used.” Primarily for this reason, it is a common
perception shared by students that it may be more
economical and further incur less cost to send
messages in English while communicating with one
another through SMS, as opposed to using the Arabic
language in their SMS.
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Along the similar parallel, a significant number of SMS
users take note of the fact that they can send one
English message to other person for every two
messages sent to him, while essentially conveying the
same idea. In this regard, two messages in English are
converted into four messages in Arabic; all
encapsulating the same idea or message. Therefore, the
sending of Arabic messages is more costly, and
inefficient. It may be further noted that sending English
messages to Arabs is particularly difficult, considering
that most Arabs are fluent in written English. The
presence of native proficiency in Arabic, combined with
a working proficiency in English and the uneconomical
SMS rates for Arabic messages has given rise to a new
phenomenon, namely the ‘Arabizi’ language. In the
present day, Arab SMS users make use a new language
called Arabizi, comprising of a combination of English
scripts and Arabic connotative meaning. For instance,
in Arabic one says " ‫ " ﻣﺮﺣﺒﺎ ﻛﯿﻒ اﻟﺤﺎل‬possessing (13
letters) effectively translated to English to mean “Hi,
how are you?”. In contrast, this would be phrased in
Arabizi as “mar7aba kef el7al”. Another message would
be, for instance,“‫ ”ﻋﻤﺮي ﺧﻤﺴﺔ ﻋﺸﺮ ﺳﻨﺔ‬which the English
equivalent of “My age is fifteen years”, while in Arabizi
it would be transliterated into: “3omri 5ams 3ashar
sanah”. Interestingly enough, where in Arabic we have
the terms “‫ ﺣﻼل‬, ‫”ﺣﺮام‬, denoting permissibility and the
forbidden respectively, their English equivalents are
transliterated equivalents, which are nonetheless
regarded as proper nouns; “Haram, Halal”. Arabizi
however, would seem to disregard all such convention,
offering a stripped, basic version of the two: “7ram,
7alal”.
In this light, the current study perceives that in their
use of Arabizi, individuals mostly use numbers such as
7 and 3 to replace the H and ‘A in their messages,
respectively. Arabizi has yet to be studied in detail by
previous researchers, especially considering the
potentially valuable example of postgraduate students
in UKM that has yet to be examined. Through common
perception, people consider Arabizi as a form of codeswitching between English and Arabic and therefore,
do not intend to learn it. As this study will focus on the
use of language in cell phone SMS messages, the
researchers will use the term “code-switching” in order
to denote any form of alternation, replacement or
encoding ongoing between Arabic and English. the
researchers will moreover focus on the reasons behind
the people’s use of Arabizi as opposed to Arabic or
English alone in SMS usage.
This study follows two objectives. The first objective is
to examine frequently used words or phrases used in
text messages. The second objective is to investigate
the reason behind the use of Arabizi, as opposed to
Arabic or English alone. Besides these objectives, the
study will further answer the two questions: what are
the most frequently words or phrases used in text
messages? Additionally, what are the reasons and
attitudes behind the use of Arabizi in text messages?
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Much research (Latisha 2011; Bernicot et al 2012;
Ihsan 2012; Marzuk et al 2013; and Leslei 2014) has
been conducted on many languages regarding codeswitched messages, but the large majority of these
studies are not focused on text message employing
code-switching between English and Arabic by means
of cell phone use. The study will therefore focus on
code-switched messages in English and Arabic, as
pertains to the Arabizi language.
In Egypt, Warschauer (2002) conducted research on
the use of English and Arabic in online communication.
The study emphasizes that English was mainly used
while searching the web or communicating in formal email writing. However, the Romanized, transliterated
version of the Egyptian-Arabic dialect is nonetheless
mostly used in formal emails and online chat instances.
This is in direct contrast to the study, where in the
current study the use of English reflects a prestige and
often euphemistic function; and where the Romanized
version of speech (Arabizi) is used as an informal
language in SMS communication.
Relevantly enough, Mark & Sandra (2009) examine a
critical hypothesis, as to whether multilingualism
increases text messaging effectiveness by making the
users of multilingual language between Spanish-English
choose short words and phrases, where effectiveness is
denoted not in terms of comprehensibility, but rather
message shortness. They conclude that in testing codeswitching between Spanish and English, no visible
increase in efficiency occurs; for the reason that
Spanish is regarded as generally being a language of
longer words, which may therefore not affect an
increase in effectiveness of communication.
Latisha (2010) further carried out research on the use
of SMS in writing. The research revealed that students
preferred to use SMS for the reason that they felt more
comfortable with the medium. While sending SMS, they
did not exhibit worried about grammar, spelling or
punctuation. The research concluded that this was
correlated to the high incidences of spelling mistakes
which take place in students’ formal and informal
writing. Moreover, she notes that students with weak
proficiency in English are influenced by SMS usage, and
therefore are prone to making more errors while
composing a text. In contrast with this study, the use of
English in SMS for native Arab speaking persons is not
used primarily as an informal language, but rather as a
medium of prestige dependent on contextual demands
calling for its use.
Along an opposed parallel to the previous study, Randa
(2011) emphasizes the use of Arabizi in SMS usage. She
mentions that Arabizi possesses a significant role. For
her, attention should be directed to role of technology
in the use of language. Arabizi (consisting of Latin
letters and roman numbers) is used both in online
communication and mobile phones, as well as through
Facebook and mobile apps, and primary media such as
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T.V. and advertisements in both streets and
newspapers. This study’s result is only similar with
respect to the mobile phone context however.
Robert (2013) takes note of the use of Arabizi in the
internet. He focused on an Arabic website in Jordan,
mahjoob.com, which mainly uses Arabizi. He noticed
that three main factors influence the use of Arabizi;
namely gender, hobby and age. He then goes a step
further to compare the use of Arabic and English in the
website. The results show that the use of English does
not correlate to the use of Arabizi, whereas the use of
the Arabic language is quite prevalent. While English is
scarcely used as the de facto language of SMS, it is used
mostly in the internet. In this regard therefore, it is the
combination of the transliterated Arabic language
written in Latin and the use of English that have
created new modes of expression, with Arabizi being
one such example of these new languages.
In addition to previous studies, Kareem (2013) asserts
the importance of Arabizi which is a combined
language of English text converted to Arabizi by means
of Arabic. In his study, he takes note of the fact that the
language was tested and examined on the basis of data
sets derived from tweets. His study reflects the high
level accuracy of 98.5% on average for converting from
Arabizi to Arabic, emphasizing its consistency and
reliability for communication purposes.
3. METHODOLOGY
This study makes use of a mixed method comprising of
both quantitative and qualitative approaches, which are
used to investigate the frequency of words and phrases
in text messages. The data collection method used
comprises of a combination of key informant selfreport questionnaires and interviews.
The questionnaire has been prepared based on the
model put forward by Warschauer et al. (2002).
However, a number of amendments were made to the
questionnaire for the purposes of making it applicable
to the current study. The questionnaire was created to
obtain data on English and Arabic language attitudes
and their corresponding use of language. The
interviews were carried out by previous researchers
with a lessened group for obtaining information
regarding the nature of language and the purpose of its
use.
This study has 20 participants at UKM; balanced
between 10 males and 10 female participants. Their
ages range from 25-36 years old, and are all
postgraduate students whose native language is Arabic.
SMS’s used by the respective parties were forwarded
by the participant from their sent messages box to the
researcher. As a result of their education, all the
participants know English and use it at the university.
In order to perceive the meaning and content of the
messages, the text-building mechanisms have been
studied on the basis of on the socio-cultural
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background of the writers themselves. In order to focus
on the effect of the gender on the type of the messages,
the texts used by both male and female participants
have been collected, which totaled approximately 220
messages. Due to unforeseen technical problems, 20 or
so messages were deleted as some students wrote in an
incomprehensible manner, whereas other such SMS’s
could not be read or used. Moreover, in order to have a
more balanced number of SMSes by both male and
females, only 120 messages written by females were
chosen, for the reason that female participants were
more active and cooperative and often provided double
the number of messages that male participants shared.
Finally, 200 messages were used within this study for
the sake of research, 120 messages of which belonged
to female participants and 80 messages belonged to
male participants. All sensitive or personal information
related to the participants, especially their names have
been deleted from the data in order to ensure that the
participants answer spontaneously without feeling they
are under scrutiny or observation. This was carried out
for the purpose of accurate data collection.
Data analysis has been conducted quantitatively and
qualitatively. Percentages were applied to indicate the
frequency of both language elements which were used
in text messages. Moreover, a qualitative analysis was
conducted in order to emphasize the communicative
roles achieved by means of the two codes. Based on
previous research conducted by Appel and Muysken
(1987) and Bader (1995), the current study would
examine the collected data alongside the categorization
of functions.
At times, Arabizi is used in Greetings which are related
to health conditions, personal greetings, religious
events, social events, cultural terms and in quoting
others. Before further explanation, it should be noted
that the manner in which the “code switches” has been
evaluated. Through the evaluation of code-switching,
one may perceive the original language of the text, be it
Arabic or English. Simply put, one major element will
be taken into consideration in order to indicate that the
code switching occurred from Arabic to English or from
English to Arabic.
This particular major element that is the subject of
focus is “bulkiness”. Bulkiness indicates that the Arabic
text will be switched into English and the English text
will be switched to Arabic. Moreover, “bulkiness” is
analyzed by means of counting the number of
occurrences of Arabic words, or phrases in every text
opposite to those used from English cooperatively; and
further evaluating the percentage count for the
examples of each language. The language with the
higher percentage of scores will be considered the base
language.
Moreover, so as to authenticate the outcome of the
study and ensure that the outcomes result from the byproduct of dissimilarities in language selection as
opposed to technical restrictions on the mobile phone,
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the questionnaire posed a question regarding the
language of the keypad; that is to say whether the
participants had Arabic or English keypads on their
mobile phones. All participants confirmed that they
used Arabic and English keypads while texting. One
should also take note that Arabic messages may be
written in the case where the complete cell phone
system is switched over to an Arabic interface,
otherwise cell phone users are unable to use the Arabic
language and instead use either English or Latinized
Arabic while texting. In effect, this is the main reason
behind the huge bulk of switches occurring between
Latinized Arabic, or more accurately ASCII-ized Arabic
and English.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Code-switching analysis
During the analysis of Arabic-English code-switching in
text messages, the collated results are produced as
follows:
The data analysis sheds light on the fact that more than
90% of the Arabic/English text messages employ
Romanized script in lieu or as a substitute for Arabic
scripts. Moreover, the research finds that participants
are more inclined to employ Arabic/English texts more
often than entirely English, or entirely Arabic texts; and
subsequently, entirely English texts more so than
entirely Arabic texts. The following table reflects the
results:
Table 1: Distribution of Arabic and English by SMS.
Type of text
Completely English
Completely Arabic
Arabic and English texts
Complete Number of SMS’s
Based on Table (1), the researchers find that
participants intend to use English entirely or use both
languages in written texts while communicating with
one another. The students are aware of their
preferences for English or the mixture of two languages
with Arabic while texting. Furthermore, the
participants express that they prefer to use a
combination of the two languages as it is easier for
them to express themselves with it, as opposed to
either English or Arabic. These results differ therefore
from Kareem (2013), where he found a rather high
accuracy of 98.5% in converting from Arabizi to Arabic,
No.
68
56
76
200
%
34
28
38
100
which would indicate a miniscule use of English in his
sample messages, or 1.5% to be precise.
While analyzing the distribution of written forms of
Arabic in the text message, the researcher’s further
fund that Arabic with Roman script is written more
frequently than Arabic with Arabic script.
More exclusively, Table (2) indicates that the
participants prefer to use messages written in Arabic
with Roman scripts as opposed to Arabic scripts, as it is
easier to communicate by means of Arabic with Roman
scripts.
Table 2: Distribution of written forms of Arabic messages in the collected data.
Type of Language
Arabic Language with Arabic scripts
Arabic language with Roman scripts
Complete number of SMS’s
The table (2) emphasizes the form of script the
participants are inclined to use while they write in
Arabic. Many of the participants, especially women,
express freely that it is easier for them to type in
English or a mixed language as opposed to typing in
Arabic. This is in contrast with Leslei (2014) who
shows that both sexes are inclined to use English, as it
presents useful features such as abbreviations,
paralinguistic restitutions and non-standard spelling.
As the distribution of the type of language has been
analyzed, which is shown in table (3), the researchers
observed that the percentage of three patterns of use
has been increased. The maximum score belongs to
No.
23
33
56
%
41
59
100
English words (55%); the minimum score goes to the
Arabic with Arabic scripts (10%); and finally the Arabic
with Roman scripts has second place (35%). These
outcomes may emphasize the fact that English poses a
greater influence on the students’ linguistic behavior. In
fact, English may be considered as an essential element
of the students' professional repertoire. In this context,
English is the language through which materials are
taught at the university, and is used for exams,
assignments and in classes. Moreover, the students are
continuously using the internet and other means of
communication which increase their exposure to
English on a more frequent basis.
Table 3: Distribution of the type of language used in texts by word.
Language
Arabic with Roman scripts
Arabic with Arabic scripts
Completely English
Complete number of words and phrase
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No.
583
165
910
1658
%
35
10
55
100
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Table (3) reflects that Roman letters have been
maintained by what is recognized as the “ASCII”,
utilized in the first protocols devised for carrying data
on the net. Those protocols have been expanded for the
English alphabet and users have been obliged to use
them (Crystal 1998). One may notice that this form of
Romanized Arabic did not exist prior to the
introduction of the Internet, and it may observed that
this written form is very popular among students to the
extent that they almost do not use Arabic in their
written messages.
Unlike Warschauer’s research which indicates the use
of English in online surfing, websites or formal writing,
the present study signifies that English is used in both
formal and in informal text messages to exhibit prestige
or avoid taboo topics. Similar to Randa’s research, the
current study emphasizes the importance of Arabizi in
formal and informal communication, and unlike
Robert's research which highlights the role of Arabizi in
the internet, the current study focuses on
communication via text messages, especially SMS.
4.2 The importance of Arabizi and code switching in
students’ text messages
Based on the data analysis, the researcher’s perceives
that some technical elements are responsible for the
preference of English or code- switching in sending the
messages. Some of these elements are as follows:
4.2.1 Effortlessness and quickness of writing
As mobile text messages are quicker, cheaper and
easier to use, cell phone users (to any other form of
communication (Hard afSegerstad 2002). The variables
of effort and time are important factors in the selection
of text messages over other types of communication. As
a result of this factor, the participants of this study
prefer to use English as the language of communication
while send messages. One such technical reason behind
the use of English is the presence of “multi-tap” or
“multi-press” technology exclusively available for
English, and not present for Arabic messages.
4.2.2 Limited space in Arabic messages
Based on data analysis, the researchers perceive that
students are inclined to write their text messages in
English than in Arabic. Hard afSegerstad (2002: 187)
notes that “each Short message is up to 160 characters
in length when Latin alphabets are used and 70
characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as
Arabic and Chinese are used.” As sending messages in
English is cheaper and less time-consuming, students
prefer to use English in their text messages as opposed
to Arabic. For the reason that it is possible to fit the
content of two Arabic messages in one English message
and express the same idea, people prefer to use English.
Code switching occurs as a result of a number of
different reasons including socio-cultural and religious
functions, greetings, prestige-based factors and for the
sake of euphemisms. All these reasons will be discussed
in detail.
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4.2.3 Socio-cultural and religious functions
Where socio-cultural and religious functions are
concerned, the participants of the current study are
inclined to code-switch to Arabic while communicating
about culturally pertinent words and phrases, where no
simple substitute exists in English, or where a specific
Arabic-specific religious meaning is concerning. For
instance, Arabs are inclined to use a great deal of words
and phrases that emphasize their subtle culture
nuances such as elhamdlilah/Thanks be to God, Allah
y7mek/May
Allah\God
protect
you,
enshallatosalbilsalama/God willing, you will reach with
safety, ma fekqosur/you always support others, and
wenk mesht2lak kteer/ where have you been? I miss
you so much; while texting one another, to name a few.
Merritt et al. (1992) as well as Holmes (1992) notice
that this code-switching provide “affective functions”,
as the speaker intends to employ an impulsive
emotional expression in order to express a particular
emotional message. In order to illustrate this notion,
the following example is derived from an excerpt of a
conversation between two English graduate female
students:
(1)A: hi Ali h r u? I hope u did well in final exam
enshallah (God willing). Ahmed wants 2 know some
information from u, can I give him ur Tel No. or nt?
B: who's Ahmed? I don't know him. if u know him well,
it's ok no problem. Thnx Allah the exam was very easy.
I think I will succeed enshallah (God willing). shokran
limash2rak tijahi (thank you for your kind wishes
towards me). Sho 3malit bil b7s? (what did you do in
thesis?)
In the provided excerpt one may observe that while
speaking in English, code-switching to Arabic occurred
in cases where the speaker expressed some
expressions such as like yarab, inshallah and shukran
la3watfik. These forms of code-switching can make
intra-cultural communication easier, and speakers
seem to be aware of this fact; therefore, they use codeswitching whenever it is necessary. One of the
participants claims that he uses code- switching as “(...)
we inherited such expressions from our ancestors.
They have become an important part of our linguistic
repertoire; therefore, I cannot say anything without
saying Inshallah [‘God willing’].” Another participant
emphasized that “such expressions are an important
part of our culture, so we cannot express our feelings
toward each other without using them.” (Mustafa and
Al-Khatib:1994)
People of Arab background usually use code switching
when they intend to express their wishes regarding
some religious occasions, as with the beginning of
Ramadan (the Holy Month of Fasting), Eid al-Fitr (The
Muslim religious holiday at the end of Ramadan ), Eid
al-Adha (The Muslim holiday at the end of the
pilgrimage season), as well as other momentous and
significant social events. Moreover, they use code
switching when they wish health for an ill person, upon
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someone’s return from a long trip, for weddings,
engagements and graduation.
4.2.4 Greetings
Arab greatly cherishes and respects greetings, and
exchanges it in daily occasions. Greetings should not be
considered adherence to some specific norms in Arab
society. Rather, these greetings are used when the
greeter intends to express what he needs from the
subject of greeting. Different factors involved include
hierarchical gradation, status differences and strategies
of interaction which can influence the manner in which
people greet one another in daily life (Al-Khatib 2006;
Farghal& Al-Khatib 2001).
The results of the current study emphasized the fact
that students are inclined to use code switching from
English to Arabic while greeting one another. Besides
this, the researchers notice that the role of a greeting is
finally obtained from a firm communicative aim or the
purpose for which two people interact with one
another. Some expressions are used mainly in
conversations, as is the case with the Islamic greeting
‘AsalaamuAleikum’ ‘peace be upon you’, or a shorter
version of it, which people often use while are texting
each other, being Salam which means ‘Peace’, Ahlen
which denotes hi/hello/you are welcome, kefek which
expresses the query how are you?’, and sho 25barak,
effectively the inquiry ‘how is your work?’.
Bader (2003) mentions that such greeting expressions
are semantically and culturally more suitable while
used via code-switching as opposed to being used in
English. In addition, he claims that “Arabic is wellknown for the abundance of words and expressions
related to [this] field.” This sort provides a “Directive
function” as Appel and Muysken (1987) put it, or an
“emblematic” or “affective” function according to
Holmes (1992). In a similar context, two students have
exchanged the two following expressions which may
serve to clarify the mentioned point:
A: Mesa el5er (Good evening) kefeksho 25barik (how
are you), b3tazir meshan 2rsalt hal2, l2n
anabktobelfasil. Sho 25tisar POI? (sorry to this send
now, but I am printing the section. What does POI
mean?)
B: Ahlen (welcome) POI: Point of Interest.
As the researchers inquire of the participants as to the
reason behind their use of Arabic in greeting, one male
participants notes ,“I individually do that in order to
change the feeling of being embarrassed; I think that to
express in Arabic is more emotional than to say in
English.” The other participant claims that “I believe
Arabic expression; especially in Greetings are more
suitable than in English.” Moreover, Arabic expressions
are highly used in greetings as they are considered part
and parcel of religious and cultural values and are
related to the Arabic personal significance and selfesteem.
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4.2.5 Prestige
The users of each language define prestigious or nonprestigious language on the basis of personal criteria
they hold. University students perceive that in some
situations, it is necessary to use prestigious language in
order is respected by their peers. English holds an
important place among the educated groups. English is
used especially by people who are well educated or
considered as first-class members of the society, and
are considered as higher status people in Arab society
(Al-Khatib&Farghal 1999).
As noted previously, English is considered a prestigious
language as the educated often use it in their
communications. Therefore, students are inclined to
use English expressions within their text messages in
order to show their knowledge and respective level
prestige. As they intend to show their high status, they
use English greetings, thanks and apologetic
expressions within their text messages. Some of the
most useful expressions text users use in their texting
are as follows: Hello, so sorry, miss you, my dear, ok,
take care, please, thanks, kindly, goodbye, and good
luck, see you later…etc. In the study of UKM university
students’ manners towards code-switching between
English and Arabic, the following instance indicate the
way students use English in order to reflect or impart
their prestige:
(4) A: hello, kefik? Sho a5barik? Ana rai7a lilso2
bdikshi?
hi h r u? I am going to go to bazaar. Do u want
anything?
An evaluation of the participants’ manner toward the
use of English expressions for obtaining prestige
indicates that a significant number of them (85%) seem
to know that they code-switch to show their prestige.
The participants’ response to the manner statement
“even if using English expressions or items indicates
prestige and innovation” reflects that the majority of
them (85%) are in agreement with the declaration that
English words add to the prestige of their texts.
However, some participants believe that it is possible to
obtain prestige only by using Arabic within texts
without the use of English words. One such participant
claims, “Prestige-no, I don’t believe so, but it seems that
the use of some such expressions eases the process of
communication.” On the basis of the findings of the
current study, one may notice that students are inclined
to use code-switching within their texts even if they feel
comfortable with their own native language (Arabic)
and consider it a prestigious language.
4.2.6 Euphemism
Based on different researches, one may notice that
English words are sometimes used for the purpose of
euphemism in order to evade apprehensive or
disagreeable topics. It is renowned that all cultures
force sanctions on the discussion of some definite
topics by definite people in particular circumstances
(see Al-Khatib 1995b). As a result, Arabs can talk about
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taboo or offensive subjects by means of code- switching
as they do not feel embarrassed to speak about these
topics within other languages. Some certain words like,
boyfriend, cancer, toilet, underwear and period which
preferred to be used with English substitutes as a
strategy to avoid embarrassment. As a result, some
students are encouraged to use English words in their
texts as they do not intend to use their native tongue to
talk about these offensive or taboo subjects.
During the process of the research, around thirty
participants discussed their ideas regarding the
importance of the use of English as a language through
which taboo subjects may be expressed within text
messages. Most of the participants (82%) emphasized
that euphemisms are important as they are encouraged
to use English expressions in their text messages. The
participants affirmed that they are inclined to use
English words in their texts for euphemistic purposes,
either consciously or unconsciously. For example, one
of the female participants remarks that “For me I use
English words or phrases as euphemisms as they seem
be harmless, especially, when we express matters
which are related to some issues such as disease, love,
body functions, etc.” In order to clarify the point, the
following example is provided:
(6) Hi hamodikefek? Two days ago, ana ma 2dert 2ji
2la elsaf l2no kan 3ndi wja3 m3ida!
(Hi hamoudi, how are you? Two days ago, I was unable
to come to class as my stomach was paining me!)
5. CONCLUSION
The current study intends to focus on the choice of
language and its usage in text messages while making
use of the cell phone. The result of the study reflects the
significant use English expressions and Romanized
Arabic by mobile phone users when they intend to
communicate with one another through the use of text
messages. Moreover, the results emphasized that some
factors are important for the use of English or codeswitching language while texting. Some of these factors
include simplicity and speed of writing in English and
restricted space for Arabic messages.
In the present day, code- switching has become very
common in communication; therefore, it is imperative
to understand its use in text messages. The outcomes of
the current study indicate that some participants are
able to use code- switching at need during their
conversation. Moreover, it is found that different
sociolinguistic functions affect code- switching.
Examples of which include users intend to switch to
Arabic when they wish to express greeting, quoting
someone and many other socio-religious situations.
However, alternatively one finds that students
validating reasons for the use of English in their
communication. The main reasons for preference of use
of English expressions include prestige, and filling gaps
existing in their language, or for the sake of
euphemistic expression.
http://english.aizeonpublishers.net/content/2015/2/eng281-288.pdf
In addition, the researchers perceived that greetings
and other reasons for the use of code- switching have
linguistic elements which frequently start CS in both
directions (i.e., both from Arabic to English and vice
versa). While a significant number of such lexemes and
phrases such as hi, nighty, goodbye can be observed as
CS; some of them have not been considered as an
integral part of some of the students' linguistic
repertoire.
In addition to what is aforementioned, the current
study indicates the role of gender in writing the text.
Females are more inclined to use switches, whereas
males prefer to use Arabic while texting messages.
Besides this, the data analysis highlights that codeswitching is a structured and rule-governed practice.
Some syntactic classifications are used more frequently
than others in this regard; however, the division of
switches by syntactic grouping indicates that the
greater part of the switches occur at the level of single
nouns, followed by phrases, and then clauses.
In conclusion, the appearance of new styles of
communication such SMS over the past twenty years
have augmented practices of both code-switching and
borrowing all over the world. The study emphasizes
that as code-switching and borrowing are used
extensively, new linguistic forms may appear.
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