Language Choice Online: Globalization and Identity in Egypt

Abstract

The dominance of English on the Internet in the medium's early years caused great consternation about a possible threat to local languages and cultures. Though the hegemony of English online has since weakened, there is still concern about how English and other languages interact online, but there has been almost no research on this issue. This paper combines linguistic analysis, a survey, and interviews to examine English and Arabic language use in online communications by a group of young professionals in Egypt. The study indicates that, among this group, English is used overwhelmingly in Web use and in formal e‐mail communication, but that a Romanized version of Egyptian Arabic is used extensively in informal e‐mail messages and online chats. This online use of English and Arabic is analyzed in relation to broader social trends of language, technology, globalization, and identity.

Language Choice in Online Written Communication among Maldivian Professionals

“…The difference between the use of Dhivehi and English in this domain is much smaller compared to the differences in the friendship and work domains. This might be because some of the respondents feel more comfortable using Dhivehi to express their personal thoughts, similar to the findings of Warschauer, El Said and Zohry (2002). As the family domain would consist of members of different age groups with various levels of English language proficiency, it is not surprising that the use of Dhivehi and English is almost at the same level.…”

“…The result on the relationship between proficiency and language choice was similar to studies conducted in face-to-face communication (Rahman et al, 2008;Yeh et al, 2004). Warschauer, El Said and Zohry's (2002) research on the use of English and Arabic in an online context also showed similar results.…”

“…Warschauer, El Said and Zohry (2002) reported that participants were not very comfortable communicating certain personal thoughts in English.…”

“…Warschauer, El Said and Zohry (2002) investigated the use of English and Arabic online by a group of young professionals in Egypt. Their findings indicated that the participants used mostly English in formal email but a Romanised version of Egyptian Arabic in informal email and chats.…”

“…It is obvious that similar to face-to-face communication, interlocutors in online communication have a choice of language in a bilingual or multilingual context. Thus far, only a few studies have been carried out to investigate the language choice in an online context (Androutsopoulos 2006, Gerrard & Nakamura 2004, Warschauer, El Said & Zohry 2002. Even fewer studies have been done in a bilingual context like in Maldives with a unique language -Dhivehi.…”