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Title:
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Arabization in Written Discourse in Saudi Arabia
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Author:
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Saad Al-Qahtani
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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Ohio State University
, Department of English
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Degree Date:
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2000
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Discourse Analysis
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Subject Language(s):
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Arabic, Standard
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Director(s):
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Herbert Stahlke
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Abstract:
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In this study I investigate Arabization as a quasi ideological-linguistic phenomenon in Saudi Arabia. First, the study examines decisions and policies employed in Arabization on the planning level. Second, it evaluates empirically the extent to which a set of Arabized words (288 words) is implemented in written discourse. The study addresses also the linguistic processes of coining Arabic-derived words for the replacement of foreign terms.
Employing a corpus-linguistic framework, a written corpus of 1,068,263 words was compiled from three Saudi newspapers—Al-Jazirah, Ar-Riyadh, and Al-Massaiah. Using a Microsoft-Access database developed for the purpose of the study, the corpus was searched for instances of 288 Arabized words. The results show that Ara bized words occur with reasonable frequency in written discourse in Saudi Arabia.
Two main variables were found to be significant in the frequency of Arabized words: context (i.e. topic), and method of coinage (the method by which a word was coined int o Arabic). For example, Arabized words are more frequent in scientific discourse than in religious discourse, and words that are coined by morphological derivation are more frequent than those made by compounding. Original (English) forms of some Arabized words do occur (14.23%). On the planning level, the study provides a critical evaluation of Arabization in Saudi Arabia, and on the technical level, it provides statistically-supported indications of how such variables i.e. method of coinage and context affect the frequency of Arabized words in the actual language use.p
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