Arabic-L:LING:Wants help with research on Arabic 'texting'

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 11 Dec 2007
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1) Subject:Wants help with research on Arabic 'texting'

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1)
Date: 11 Dec 2007
From:dreynold at religion.ucsb.edu
Subject:Wants help with research on Arabic 'texting'

Dear Arabic-L members,

I have a very bright undergraduate student who studied in Cairo last  
year and is writing an exciting Honor's paper under my direction on  
digitized 3rabic as used in "txting" on cellphones, in online  
chatrooms, and in postings to websites such as Facebook.

She has already gathered a small corpus via her own personal network  
in Egypt, but would now like to expand her research to include  
digitized 3rabic in other Arab countries.

If you have access to native speakers of Arabic at your institution --  
TA's, Arab students, bilingual Arab-Americans, and so forth -- could  
you please pass the attached brief survey form on to them?  I suspect  
they will actually enjoy responding if they are young people and "txt"  
in Arabic regularly.

There are some very interesting aspects of code-switching and other  
issues that are surfacing in my student's work, so I hope you will  
consider giving her a hand in connecting to a broader survey  
population.  Egyptian responses are welcome too, it's just that there  
is a particular interest at this point in contacting speakers from  
other countries as well.

Best,
Dwight Reynolds

*******************************************************************************
Dwight F. Reynolds, Professor            Arabic Language & Lit
Department of Religious Studies          Phone: (805) 893-7143
University of California                 Dept:  (805) 893-7136
Santa Barbara, CA 93106                  FAX:   (805) 893-2059
*******************************************************************************

[here is the text of the attachment:]

My name is Allegra O’Donoghue and I an undergraduate at the  
University of California, Santa Barbara, majoring in Middle Eastern  
Studies.  I am interested in learning about how young bilingual Arabs  
communicate digitally, particularly in the mixture of English with  
Arabic and transliterating into Roman or English letters.  I hope to  
ascertain the development and usage of this form of language, codify  
spelling and determine whether or not its users have established  
grammar rules.  I would greatly appreciate your help with this  
project!  If you know of anyone who might like to participate, please  
forward it on.  Feel free to elaborate on any question.  You may type  
directly on this document, re-save it and send it back, or simply  
number your answers on a separate document, or directly in the body of  
an email.  I’d appreciate your response as soon as possible, and you  
may contact me directly at  HYPERLINK  
"mailto:allegretta at umail.ucsb.edu" allegretta at umail.ucsb.edu
Shukran!

Name:
Age:
Sex:

How long have you studied English and how old were you when you began?


What was the language of instruction in your
primary school-
secondary school-
university-


In what country/ies do you hold citizenship and in what country/ies  
were you raised?


Which dialects of Arabic are you familiar with? And which do you use  
when online and in texts (SMS’s)?



Do you ever use Arabic script when typing or texting (sending SMS’s)?  
If so, when?





Please look over the alphabet below.  Do you have any additions,  
subtractions or comments?

ء-2
ا-a
ب-b
ت-t
ث-th, s
ج-g, j
ح-7, h
خ-7', kh, 5
د-d
ذ-z, th
ر-r
ز-z
س-s
ش-sh
ص-s
ض-d,
ط-t, 6
ظ- th, z
ع-a, ‘a, 3, a’
غ-gh, 3’
ف- f
ق- q, 2, k
ك-k
ل-l
م-m
ن-n
ه-h
و- as a consonant-w, as a vowel-  oo, ou, u
ي- as a consonant-ya, as a vowel ee, y, i
Short vowels:
kasra- i
dhamma- u, o
fat7a- a,e

Comments:




When typing with the Roman alphabet, are you consistent in your  
spelling of words?



Please type the following sentence as you normally would using the  
Roman alphabet:

والله يا جماعة أنا مبسوطة إن فيه جروب  
كده بجد برافو عليكويا شباب وانا نفسي  
موت مصر ترجع زي زمان بس إيه لا حياة لمن  
تنادي وعاوزنا نرجع زي زمان قول للزمان  
إرجع يا زمان




When typing messages on a computer or cell phone, do you notice any  
particular words or phrases that you normally always write in  
English?  For example:

“howwa ento bete3melo design it-shirts w keda? Walla just printing?”
“ya gama3a al t-shirt 7elwa moot wel printing gamed awyy….”

In both examples, the writers wrote “t-shirts” and “printing”  
in English.





Are there any phrases or expressions that you only use when typing or  
texting and never use while speaking?




How often do you use the internet/text messaging?
multiple times a day
once a day
a few times a week
once a week

Are there any websites/profiles other than facebook on which you leave  
messages or chat with your friends frequently?



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