Arabizi Code-Switching in Computer-Mediated Communication: A Literature Review

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Bokamba (1989) defines Code-Switching (CS) as “the mixing of words, phrases and sentences from two distinct grammatical (sub)systems across sentences boundaries within the same speech event” (p.278). Auer explains that in CS, “the contrast between one code and the other … is meaningful, and can be interpreted by participants, as indexing (contextualizing) either some aspects of the situation (discourse-related switching), or some feature of the codeswitching speaker (participant-related switching)” (1999, p.310). However, CS is not “a display of deficient language knowledge: a grammarless mixing of two languages. Instead it is a phenomenon through which its users express a range of meanings” (Liu, 2008, p.4). “The purpose of CS seems to be to symbolize a somewhat ambiguous situation for which neither language on its own would be quite right” (Walwadkar, 2013, p.46).
Code-Switching in Adult Bilinguals
Though CS in children is “a sign of their linguistic resourcefulness” (Genesee & Nicoladis, 2007, p. 331), in adults it is a “sophisticated, rule-governed communicative device used by linguistically competent bilinguals to achieve a variety of communicative goals, such as conveying emphasis, role playing, or establishing socio-cultural identity. It has highly structured syntactic and sociolinguistic constraints” (Genesee, 1989, p. 164). CS could play a significant role in the underlying structure of a dialogue.
By code switching, which occurs mostly in conversation, the choice of speech alerts the participants to the interaction of the context and social dimension within which the conversation is taking place. The phenomenon of code switching is examined from a conversational analysis perspective, and as such is viewed as interactive...

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Liu, P. (2008). Code-switching and Code-mixing. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
Romiszowski, A. J. (1992). Computer mediated communication: a selected bibliography (Vol.5). Educational Technology.
Saidat, A. M. (2013). Word order and the Minimalist Program: Data from Jordanian varieties. Acta Linguistica, 7(1).
Sperrazza, L. I Am Not My Tongue 2. In Special Issue for the Nile TESOL Skills Conference Proceedings 2011 (p. 95).
Torstrick, R. L., & Faier, E. (2009). Culture and Customs of the Arab Gulf States. ABC-CLIO.
Walwadkar, S. B. (2013). Code Mixing and Code Switching in Indian English Speech: an ICE (International Corpus of English) study.
Warschauer, M., Said, G. R. E. and Zohry, A. G. (2002), Language Choice Online: Globalization and Identity in Egypt. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 7: 0. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2002.tb00157.x

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