Digital Media and Language

Evolution of Digital Media

100

What year did the internet shift from being used for the production and control of material goods to now controlling information 

1990

250

Computer and technology-based education relied heavily on which language?

English

500

The increased use of digital media has blurred the boundaries between these two types of Arabic, traditionally kept separate for formal and informal contexts.

Standard Arabic and colloquial Arabic

Arabic in Digital Spaces

100

This movement in the early 2010s used social media to mobilize political activism in several Arab countries.

Arab Spring

250

In a study of 250 Egyptian private schools, this language was the primary medium of instruction, with Arabic only taught as a curricular subject.

English

500

The increased amount of expats and international business in this region in the Arab World has contributed to the shift to using English in digital spaces and during daily face to face interactions 

The Gulf Region

Code Switching

100

This term describes the mixing of languages in digital communication, such as switching between Arabic and English within a single message.

code switching

250

This term refers to the use of colloquial Arabic in English letters and numbers, popular among Arab youth online.

Arabizi

500

part of code switching that leads to the emergence of an international code where terms no longer have markers of a specific language 

(thanks, lol, hi, oui, yo, bye)

code weaving

Identity

100

Bishr (2007) found that: 

A. Arabic is no longer the language of Arab identity

B. Arabic is the language of Arab identity, but with permeating Western influences 

C. Arabic is the language of Arab identity

A. Arabic is no longer the language of Arab identity

250

Younger generations shift away from/defy a linguistic norm set by an older generation by using new linguistic forms.

Non-conformity principle

500

Strongly connected social networks tend to be resistant to linguistic innovations and change, whereas weakly connected networks are more open to linguistic change.

Social network theory

Impact & Challenges

100

Digital media helps maintain smaller languages, like _________ and _________.

Berber and Kurdish

250

What language was most of the anti-Egyptian rhetoric in Wilson and Dunn's study?

Bonus: what social media platforms were they examining?

 English on Facebook and Twitter

500

Lebanese bloggers use a mix of which 3 languages?

Arabic, English, and French