Main peculiarities of Arabic-language content on the Internet

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the trend that emerged in recent decades to transliterate Arabic text in the Internet comments and text messages, using the numbers for conveying the specificity of Arabic sounds. The object of this research is Arabizi – the macaronic jargon in electronic correspondence of Arabic native speakers, while subject is its specific characteristics. In the course of study, the author selected the microtexts posted by Arabic-speaking audience in the popular social networks Facebook and Twitter, YouTube video hosting, as well as private correspondence via such messengers as Viber and WhatsApp. The mandatory criterion was the affiliation of words to the common Arabic lexicon, as well as validation and similarity of the materials from different sources. Misprints and erratives were left out. The selected examples were classified by age (group 1 – 30 – 35 years old, group 2 – above 35 years old.) and nationality (from any Arab country) of their author. The scientific novelty is define by the fact that this article is first to examine the features that differentiate Arabizi from similar macaronic jargons, such as Denglish, Franglais, Spanglish, Ruglish. Possible ways for further development of language situation in the Arab world are proposed. The author determined that short messages in Arabizi virtually frame the written form that captures the specificity of oral dialect speech of the Arabic native speakers. The conclusion consists in formulation of distinctive characteristics of the indicated macaronic language that emerged as a result of interference due to familiarization of Arabs with the European languages, namely English.