Code Switching In Mobile Text Messages Among Jordanian University Students 1

Mahmoud A. Al-Khatib and Enaq H. Sabbah

Language Choice in Mobile Text Messages among Jordanian
University Students

Abstract
This paper examines the linguistic structure and sociolinguistic functions of ArabicEnglish code-switching in mobile text messages as used by a group of Jordanian university students. It also aims at investigating the distribution of the switched elements by syntactic category. The corpus was collected from 46 male and female undergraduate and post-graduate students. Qualitative as well as quantitative analyses were carried out by the researchers. The major findings of the study revealed that there are a number of technical elements that might be responsible for the wide use of English or switching between English and Arabic “with Arabic Roman scripts” in mobile text messaging. Qualitative data analysis indicated that CS could be brought about and shaped by the dynamics of the relationship of the speaker–addressee and by cultural features embedded in the Arabic language. The analysis also showed that CS in this particular means of communication functions as a communicative strategy for facilitating communication by lowering language barriers as well as by consolidating cultural identity. Moreover, it has been noticed that the process appears to be conditioned, among other factors, by the sex of the writer. The findings of this study chart changes in language choice practices ushered in by the advent of a new medium of communication. 1.

Introduction and background

1.1 Preliminaries
Mobile technology has spread rapidly throughout the world faster than any other communication technology, and is now widely used everywhere. The basic concept of mobile phones began in 1947 when researchers started developing car phones, but it was not until around 1982 that mobile phones, as we know them, were first used. The Short Message Service
(SMS) was developed within the mobile phone industry in the early 1990’s but it did not become popular until about

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