Spoken Arabic in Written Chats: four Arab girls talk about dinner time and venue
Abstract
Chat texting shows the adoption of informal Arabic in writing, where the virtual participants accommodate each other and implement convergent strategies, at least for some key elements of the discourse. The selected texts reflect the linguistic behavior adopted in writing by the native Arab girls involved, interacting in a very natural and friendly way. They come from Morocco (1), Syria (1), Egypt (1), Gaza (1), are aged between 25-40, and live in Texas, where they work as Arabic instructors. Their behaviors in chatting shows accommodation to a written language register comfortable for each one of them. This was possible by the adoption of precise lexical entries, verbs, and adverbs, coupled with specific morphological traits. The point of discussion here is the type and process of written accommodation, in particular for the decline of the exclusive Egyptian variety monopoly, compared to accommodative behaviors investigated in the past.
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