AWEJ Volume.4 Number.3, 2013 Pp.52-62
Arabizi: An Analysis of the Romanization of the Arabic Script from a Sociolinguistic Perspective
Wid H. Allehaiby
King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to present a sociolinguistic analysis of the Romanization of the Arabic Script phenomenon better known as Arabizi. Arabizi is a widely used alternative for the Arabic script in computer-mediated contexts (CMC) and social networking sites, which has emerged as a result of the Arabic script being unsupported in technological tools and Internet resources. Arabic speakers have taken different stances to using Arabizi. In this paper, the following issues are discussed: the historical emergence of Arabizi, a thorough explanation of the script, its characters and its features, the social contexts in which users utilize it, and the different attitudes of Arabic speakers towards its use.
Keywords: Arabic Script, Arabizi, Romanization, sociolinguistics, speakers’ attitudes