A Sociolinguistic Study: Diglossia in Social Media
Mahmoud Ali Qudah, Princess Sumayya University of Technology (Jordan)
Abstract
In this research paper, the researcher will identify the circumstances under which diglossic behavior appear in different social media tools and its effects on Standard variety of Arabic language. The study of this linguistic phenomenon will determine whether the use of the high variety and the use of the low variety of Arabic language varies when there is a change in the contextual topic.The issues of gender and age will also be investigated as it may have direct effect on the use of diglossia in different social settings. This study also attempts to scrutinize the consequences of social network sites on Jordanian Arabic diglossia among different social contexts as a representative of Arabic speaking communities.
This study will also investigate diglossia in two important and widespread social websites namely, Twitter and Facebook. As to the knowledge of the researcher, this study is the first of its kind among researchers who are interested in studying Arabic diglossic features of certain local communities. The study may, to some extent, draw some generalizations about diglossia in Arabic speaking communities especially in Jordan due to the fact that these websites(Twitter and Facebook) present a variety of diglossic behaviors by different users of such important social media tools.The sudy concludes that the high variety of Arabic is used among users of tweets/posts discussing political issues,news and religion. Whereas the low variety is used among people who discuss issues of fashion,sports,music and personal concerns.
Key words: Diglossia, Media, Online, ICT,Social Media,Diglossic Languages.