ח‘טיב אבו–ליל, עולא

Writing Between Languages – the Case of Arabizi

The purpose of this paper was to explore the properties of Arabizi as a system with a ‘bottom-up’ orthography that emerged in the specific context of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). The study focuses on the dialects spoken in the city of Nazareth and the villages surrounding it (N = 75). We examined the consistency of choice of Latin letters and Arabic numerals for Spoken Arabic (SA) phonemes from two complimentary perspectives subjective reports and the corpus-based analysis of a unique writing sample in Arabizi, elicited texts. Our results show a consensus on conventions in the transcription process, with some expected variation reflecting differences between regional dialects. This indicated a high degree of normativity or standardization in Arabizi orthography.

Published

Abu-Liel, A. K., Eviatar, Z., & Nir, B. (2019). Writing between languages – the case of Arabizi. Writing Systems Research, 11(2), 226-238.

Arabic Teenagers’ Attitudes to Electronic Writing in Arabizi

The globalization of English-based technology has caused the present-day Arab generation to rely on the use of the Latin script as the main writing system when communicating through the electronic medium in Spoken Arabic (SA). This has raised fears for the preservation of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the traditional orthography of Arabic. The study presents the attitudes of Arab adolescents in northern Israel towards the use of Arabizi (Latinized Arabic) in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), and towards MSA. The data were collected via a questionnaire completed by 8th grade students. The questions were divided into three different themes (1) Demographic data, (2) The degree of control of communication with Arabizi in CMC, and (3) Subjects’ attitude towards Arabizi and MSA. The results show that although the students all use Arabizi and report that it is easier and more accessible to them, they consider MSA important and valuable, as it is related to their identity as Arabs.

Published

Khatteb Abu-Liel, A., Eviatar, Z., & Nir, B. (2020). Arabic teenagers’ attitudes to electronic writing in Arabizi. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5 (2) 1-18.