Saudi Users of Arabizi on Social Media Websites and Applications: Uses, Attitudes and Beliefs

Abstract

Although Arabizi (i.e. a writing code that uses Roman or Latin alphabets to express Arabic texts) has received a considerable volume of research in the past decades (e.g.  Assalman and Haraq, 2014; Romaih, 2014; Alghamdi, 2018), all the previous works have assigned a special attention to the uses and functions of this code among the young generation only, i.e. Arabizi users who are 27 year old or below. Unlike the past literature, the current article aims to explore the uses and functions of Arabizi among a new sample consisting of 47 Saudis (31 males vs. 43 females) who are all 28 year old or above. Using e-questionnaires and interviews, the study shows that the old generation in Saudi Arabia is not as active as the younger generation in terms of Arabizi use. However, the study demonstrates that the use of Arabizi among the old generation comes as a code-switching behavior with other languages such as Arabic and English, and it is more common on Twitter and Snapchat, with a marginal use for emails and other study and diary applications. Although that the majority of the old Arabizi users are still similar to the youths in having more positive attitudes towards this code of communication, the study shows that their attitudes to Arabizi diverge on the personal and parental levels, stressing their utmost reluctance to teach Arabizi to their children.