A Sociolinguistic Study of Code Choice Among Saudis on Twitter

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Sociolinguistic Study of Code Choice Among Saudis on Twitter A Sociolinguistic Study of Code Choice among Saudis on Twitter by Saeed Ali Al Alaslaa A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in The University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Mohammad T. Alhawary, Chair Associate Professor Abdulkafi Albirini, Utah State University Professor Marlyse N. Baptista Professor Emeritus Raji M. Rammuny Saeed A. Al Alaslaa [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0527-2334 © Saeed A. Al Alaslaa 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, all praise is to the Almighty God for His grace and blessings throughout my entire life. Second, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my dissertation committee members for their constructive feedback and the time they dedicated to reading and offering suggestions on the writing of my dissertation. In addition, I want to convey my endless thanks to my advisor, Professor Mohammad Alhawary, who has expanded my knowledge of Arabic linguistics on both levels, theoretical and applied. The Arabic theoretical linguistics classes that I have taken with him were immensely beneficial, including Arabic syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology, historical linguistics, and dialectology. From the applied linguistics perspective, I really benefited from the courses he taught me, such as Arabic second language acquisition, Arabic teaching methodology, as well as the independent classes through which my research topic and interests have evolved and thrived. I am indebted to him for his outstanding direction, guidance, support, patience, and generosity with his time and advice. I hold in the highest esteem everything he has done for me. Without him, this journey could not have been accomplished successfully. May Allah reward him well. I also wish to recognize Professor Robin Queen, who taught my sociolinguistics class in Fall 2013 in addition to my variation and social cognition class. She is a great professor and person. She is always supportive, encouraging, respectful and respectable, and inspiring. Unfortunately, as she was on sick leave this academic year (2017–2018), she could not continue serving as a dissertation committee member. Moreover, I am grateful to Professor Marlyse Baptista, who taught my language contact class and willingly joined my dissertation committee without hesitation despite her hectic schedule. It means so much to me that she is such a great professor. ii I am also deeply thankful to Dr. Abdulkafi Albirini for his guidance and support throughout this process. I greatly benefited from his work on bidialectal codeswitching. He is also very knowledgeable and responsive to reading my emails and papers. My most profound appreciation goes out to Professor Raji Rammuny, a well-known name in Arabic and applied linguistics, for his help, encouragement, and support. He read my whole dissertation with much care and patience, all the while carefully editing and correcting my work. I am extraordinarily grateful to him for his very helpful feedback, dedication, and sincerity. Additionally, I am indebted to my friends, who were available when I needed them. Particularly, I am immensely appreciative of Ali Almidhwah, Abdulaziz Alqasem, and Mohammed Alshehri for their kind support, advice, and encouragement. I also thank my classmates Katie Arraj and Caroline Robinson for proofreading some chapters of my dissertation. Next, I am obliged to my sponsor, King Abdulaziz University, for having offered me a lecturer position in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and then offering me a scholarship to pursue my higher education in the USA. Subsequently, I must thank my colleagues for their support and kind cooperation since the first day I prepared to study abroad until the last day of this journey. I would also like to sincerely recognize my family for their thoughts, supplications, and prayers, particularly my mother for her sincere prayers and her endless love. I will never forget my father, who had passed away a couple of months before I began this journey. Certainly, he would have been proud of me if he were still alive “May Allah forgive his sins and grant him Jannah”. My deepest appreciation goes out to my great wife Thamra and my children Ali, Shadin, Firas, and Danah for all their patience, sacrifice, care, support, and encouragement throughout my graduate work as well as understanding the difficulties that graduate students encounter during their studies. Thank you for constantly reassuring me that I could accomplish my goals and being with me through thick and thin. To all of you: thank you very much from the bottom of my heart! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................ ii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ ix LIST OF IMAGES ........................................................................................ xi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. xv CHAPTER 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview ....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Objectives of the Dissertation ...................................................................................4 1.3 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation............................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2 Literature Review......................................................................................... 11 iv 2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Studies on Arabic Diglossia .................................................................................... 11 2.2.1 Language and prestige..................................................................................... 18 2.2.2 Mother tongue, native language, or second language..................................... 20 2.3 Studies on Code-Switching ..................................................................................... 22 2.4 CS Studies in the Arabic Context ........................................................................... 32 2.4.1 Studies of code-switching on social media and Twitter .................................. 41 2.4.2 Language use and social variables: gender and education factors ................ 48 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 3 Research Methodology ................................................................................. 58 3.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 58 3.2 Framework .............................................................................................................. 59 3.3 Participants and Data Collection ............................................................................ 62 3.4 Data Coding and Analysis....................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 4 Findings ........................................................................................................ 74 4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................. 74 4.2 Motivations for Codeswitching to Standard Arabic .............................................. 77 v 4.2.1 To introduce formulaic expressions ................................................................ 79 4.2.2 To emphasize a point ....................................................................................... 81 4.2.3 To quote ........................................................................................................... 83 4.2.4 To shift from the comic to the serious ............................................................. 86 4.2.5 To take a pedantic stance ................................................................................ 89 4.3 Motivations for Codeswitching to the Saudi Dialect .............................................. 91 4.3.1 Specific intended meaning ............................................................................... 94 4.3.2 For joking and sarcasm ................................................................................... 96 4.3.3 To quote ..........................................................................................................100 4.3.4 To explain and exemplify ...............................................................................103 4.3.5 To introduce sayings about daily life .............................................................105 4.3.6 To scold, insult, and personally attack ...........................................................108 4.3.7 For common usage ..........................................................................................111 4.3.8 An overlapping of the functions of SA with the SD .......................................119 4.4 The Role of Gender and
Recommended publications
  • Sign Language Typology Series
    SIGN LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY SERIES The Sign Language Typology Series is dedicated to the comparative study of sign languages around the world. Individual or collective works that systematically explore typological variation across sign languages are the focus of this series, with particular emphasis on undocumented, underdescribed and endangered sign languages. The scope of the series primarily includes cross-linguistic studies of grammatical domains across a larger or smaller sample of sign languages, but also encompasses the study of individual sign languages from a typological perspective and comparison between signed and spoken languages in terms of language modality, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to sign language typology. Interrogative and Negative Constructions in Sign Languages Edited by Ulrike Zeshan Sign Language Typology Series No. 1 / Interrogative and negative constructions in sign languages / Ulrike Zeshan (ed.) / Nijmegen: Ishara Press 2006. ISBN-10: 90-8656-001-6 ISBN-13: 978-90-8656-001-1 © Ishara Press Stichting DEF Wundtlaan 1 6525XD Nijmegen The Netherlands Fax: +31-24-3521213 email: [email protected] http://ishara.def-intl.org Cover design: Sibaji Panda Printed in the Netherlands First published 2006 Catalogue copy of this book available at Depot van Nederlandse Publicaties, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag (www.kb.nl/depot) To the deaf pioneers in developing countries who have inspired all my work Contents Preface........................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons from Research on Ideophones Mark Dingemanse Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, NL [email protected]
    a journal of Dingemanse, Mark. 2018. Redrawing the margins of language: Lessons from general linguistics Glossa research on ideophones. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 3(1): 4. 1–30, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.444 OVERVIEW ARTICLE Redrawing the margins of language: Lessons from research on ideophones Mark Dingemanse Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, NL [email protected] Ideophones (also known as expressives or mimetics, and including onomatopoeia) have been systematically studied in linguistics since the 1850s, when they were first described as a lexical class of vivid sensory words in West-African languages. This paper surveys the research history of ideophones, from its roots in African linguistics to its fruits in general linguistics and typology around the globe. It shows that despite a recurrent narrative of marginalisation, work on ideophones has made an impact in many areas of linguistics, from theories of phonological features to typologies of manner and motion, and from sound symbolism to sensory language. Due to their hybrid nature as gradient vocal gestures that grow roots in discrete linguistic systems, ideophones provide opportunities to reframe typological questions, reconsider the role of language ideology in linguistic scholarship, and rethink the margins of language. With ideophones increasingly being brought into the fold of the language sciences, this review synthesises past theoretical insights and empirical findings in order to enable future work to build on them. Keywords: ideophones; iconicity; linguistic theory; language ideology “Words go on living despite the efforts of scholars to manage them.” — Taro Gomi (1989) 1 Introduction Ideophones are marked words that depict sensory scenes like c’onc’on ‘woven tightly’, ulakpulak ‘unbalanced, scary appearance’ and colcol ‘flowing liquid’ in Korean, or muku- muku ‘mumbling mouth movements’, gelegele ‘glittery appearance’ and gbadara-gbadara ‘a drunkard’s wobbling gait’ in Siwu, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana (Dingemanse 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Meeting of the Committee of Editors of Linguistics Journals January 10
    Meeting of the Committee of Editors of Linguistics Journals January 10, 2016 Washington, DC Present: Eric Baković, Greg Carlson, Abby Cohn, Elizabeth Cowper, Kai von Fintel, Brian Joseph, Tom Purnell, Johan Rooryck (via Skype) 1. Unified Stylesheet v2.0 Kai von Fintel discussed his involvement in a working group aiming to “update, revise, amend, precisify” the existing Unified Stylesheet for Linguistics Journals. An email from von Fintel on this topic sent to the editors’ mailing list shortly after our meeting is copied at the end of these minutes. Abby Cohn noted that Laboratory Phonology will continue to use APA style given its close contact with relevant fields that use also this style. It was also noted and agreed that authors should be encouraged to ensure the stability of online works for citation purposes. 2. LingOA Johan Rooryck reported on the very recent transition of subscription Lingua (Elsevier) to open access Glossa (Ubiquity Press), and addressed questions about a document he sent to the editors’ mailing list in November (also appended at the end of these minutes). The document invites the editorial teams of other subscription journals in linguistics and related fields to make the move to fair open access, as defined by LingOA (http://lingoa.eu), to join Glossa as well as Laboratory Phonology and Journal of Portuguese Linguistics. On January 9, David Barner (Psychology & Linguistics, UC San Diego) and Jesse Snedeker (Psychology, Harvard) called for fair open access at Cognition, another Elsevier journal. (See http://meaningseeds.com/2016/01/09/fair- open-access-at-cognition/.) The transition of Lingua to Glossa has apparently gone even smoother than expected.
    [Show full text]
  • The Status of Arabic in the United States of America Post 9/11 and the Impact on Foreign Language Teaching Programs
    Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 3; June 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Status of Arabic in the United States of America post 9/11 and the Impact on Foreign Language Teaching Programs Abdel-Rahman Abu-Melhim Department of English Language and Literature Irbid University College, Al-Balqa' Applied University, Al-Salt, Jordan 19117 E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.3p.70 Received: 06/04/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.3p.70 Accepted: 13/05/2014 This work has been carried out during sabbatical leave granted to the author, (Abdel-Rahman Abu-Melhim), from Al-Balqa' Applied University, (BAU), during the academic year 2013/2014. Abstract This study aims at investigating the status of Arabic in the United States of America in the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center events. It delves into this topic and identifies the main reasons for the increased demand for learning Arabic. It also determines the impact of the renewed interest in Arabic on foreign language teaching programs. Furthermore, the study identifies the main Arabic language programs established in the U.S. after the events of 9/11, 2001 at various institutions of higher education. The process of data collection relied primarily on information and statistics provided by several authorized professional linguistic organizations based in the U.S. as well as a number of telephone interviews conducted by the researcher. Since September 11, 2001, Arabic language teaching and learning has become the focus of much more attention from the educational community in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • United Arab Emirates (Uae)
    Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: United Arab Emirates, July 2007 COUNTRY PROFILE: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) July 2007 COUNTRY اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴّﺔ اﻟﻤﺘّﺤﺪة (Formal Name: United Arab Emirates (Al Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah Dubai , أﺑﻮ ﻇﺒﻲ (The seven emirates, in order of size, are: Abu Dhabi (Abu Zaby .اﻹﻣﺎرات Al ,ﻋﺠﻤﺎن Ajman , أ مّ اﻟﻘﻴﻮﻳﻦ Umm al Qaywayn , اﻟﺸﺎرﻗﺔ (Sharjah (Ash Shariqah ,دﺑﻲّ (Dubayy) .رأس اﻟﺨﻴﻤﺔ and Ras al Khaymah ,اﻟﻔﺠﻴﺮة Fajayrah Short Form: UAE. اﻣﺮاﺗﻰ .(Term for Citizen(s): Emirati(s أﺑﻮ ﻇﺒﻲ .Capital: Abu Dhabi City Major Cities: Al Ayn, capital of the Eastern Region, and Madinat Zayid, capital of the Western Region, are located in Abu Dhabi Emirate, the largest and most populous emirate. Dubai City is located in Dubai Emirate, the second largest emirate. Sharjah City and Khawr Fakkan are the major cities of the third largest emirate—Sharjah. Independence: The United Kingdom announced in 1968 and reaffirmed in 1971 that it would end its treaty relationships with the seven Trucial Coast states, which had been under British protection since 1892. Following the termination of all existing treaties with Britain, on December 2, 1971, six of the seven sheikhdoms formed the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The seventh sheikhdom, Ras al Khaymah, joined the UAE in 1972. Public holidays: Public holidays other than New Year’s Day and UAE National Day are dependent on the Islamic calendar and vary from year to year. For 2007, the holidays are: New Year’s Day (January 1); Muharram, Islamic New Year (January 20); Mouloud, Birth of Muhammad (March 31); Accession of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi—observed only in Abu Dhabi (August 6); Leilat al Meiraj, Ascension of Muhammad (August 10); first day of Ramadan (September 13); Eid al Fitr, end of Ramadan (October 13); UAE National Day (December 2); Eid al Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice (December 20); and Christmas Day (December 25).
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia.Pdf
    A saudi man with his horse Performance of Al Ardha, the Saudi national dance in Riyadh Flickr / Charles Roffey Flickr / Abraham Puthoor SAUDI ARABIA Dec. 2019 Table of Contents Chapter 1 | Geography . 6 Introduction . 6 Geographical Divisions . 7 Asir, the Southern Region � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �7 Rub al-Khali and the Southern Region � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �8 Hejaz, the Western Region � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �8 Nejd, the Central Region � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �9 The Eastern Region � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �9 Topographical Divisions . .. 9 Deserts and Mountains � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �9 Climate . .. 10 Bodies of Water . 11 Red Sea � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 11 Persian Gulf � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 11 Wadis � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 11 Major Cities . 12 Riyadh � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �12 Jeddah � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �13 Mecca � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
    [Show full text]
  • Language Ideologies, Schooling and Islam in Qatar
    Language in the Mirror: Language Ideologies, Schooling and Islam in Qatar Rehenuma Asmi Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy under the executive committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Rehenuma Asmi All rights reserved ABSTRACT Language in the Mirror: Language Ideologies, Schooling and Islam Rehenuma Asmi My study explores language ideologies in the capital city of Doha, Qatar, where school reform movements are placing greater emphasis on English language acquisition. Through ethnography and a revised theory of language ideologies, I argue that as languages come in greater contact in multi-lingual spaces, mediation must occur between the new and old relationships that are emerging as a result of population growth, policy changes and cross-cultural interactions. I interrogate the development concept of the “knowledge economy” as it is used to justify old and new language ideologies regarding Arabic and English. As Qataris change their education systems in response to the economic development framework of the “knowledge economy,” they are promoting language ideologies that designate English as useful for the economy and “global” citizenship and Qatari Arabic and Standard Arabic as useful for religious and cultural reasons. I argue that Standard English, through its association with the “knowledge economy,” becomes “de-localized” and branded an “international” language. This ideology presents English as a modern language free of the society in which it is embedded, to circulate around the globe. In contrast, Standard Arabic is represented as stiff, archaic language of religious traditions and Qatari Arabic is presented as the language of oral culture and ethnonationalism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gulf Rising: Defense Industrialization In
    Atlantic Council BRENT SCOWCROFT CENTER ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY THE GULF RISING Defense Industrialization in Saudi Arabia and the UAE Bilal Y. Saab THE GULF RISING Defense Industrialization in Saudi Arabia and the UAE Bilal Y. Saab Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council © May 2014 The Atlantic Council of the United States. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Atlantic Council, except in the case of brief quotations in news articles, critical articles, or reviews. Please direct inquiries to: Atlantic Council 1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20005 ISBN: 978-1-61977-055-3 Cover image: A visitor looks at a miniature model of a helicopter on display during the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, February 18, 2013. Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................ 1 Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 2 The Author .............................................................................................. 6 Introduction ............................................................................................. 7 Motivations ............................................................................................. 9 Pillars ..................................................................................................13
    [Show full text]
  • Music for a New Day Artist Bio
    Music for a New Day Artist bio Fariba Davody: Fariba Davody is a musician, vocalist, and teacher who first captured public eye performing classical Persian songs in Iran, and donating her proceeds from her show. She performed a lot of concerts and festivals such as the concert in Agha khan museum in 2016 in Toronto , concerts with Kiya Tabassian in Halifax and Montreal, and Tirgan festival in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 in Toronto. Fariba opened a Canadian branch of Avaye Mehr music and art school where she continues to teach. Raphael Weinroth-Browne: Canadian cellist and composer Raphael Weinroth- Browne has forged a uniQue career and international reputation as a result of his musical creativity and versatility. Not confined to a single genre or project, his musical activities encompass a multitude of styles and combine influences from contemporary classical, Middle Eastern, and progressive metal music. His groundbreaking duo, The Visit, has played major festivals such as Wave Gotik Treffen (Germany), 21C (Canada), and the Cello Biennale Amsterdam (Netherlands). As one half of East-meets-West ensemble Kamancello, he composed “Convergence Suite,” a double concerto which the duo performed with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra to a sold out audience. Raphael's cello is featured prominently on the latest two albums from Norwegian progressive metal band Leprous; he has played over 150 shows with them in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Raphael has played on over 100 studio albums including the Juno Award-winning Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (Woods of Ypres) and Juno-nominated UpfRONt (Ron Davis’ SymphRONica) - both of which feature his own compositions/arrangements - as well as the Juno-nominated Ayre Live (Miriam Khalil & Against The Grain Ensemble).
    [Show full text]
  • Beliefs and Out-Of-Class Language Learning of Chinese-Speaking ESL Learners in Hong Kong
    New Horizons in Education. Vol. 60, No.1, May 2012 Beliefs and Out-of-class Language Learning of Chinese-speaking ESL Learners in Hong Kong WU Man-fat, Manfred Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Haking Wong) Abstract Background: There has been a lack of research on exploring how beliefs about language learning (BALLs) and out-of-class language-learning activities are related. BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activities play an important role in influencing the learning behaviours of learners and learning outcomes. Findings of this study provide useful pedagogical implications for English teaching in Hong Kong. Aim: The aim of the study is to gather information on the BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activities of young adult ESL learners in Hong Kong. Sample: Convenience sampling is adopted in this study of 324 ESL (English as a Second Language) learners undertaking vocational education in Hong Kong. Methods: Surveys on BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activiti Results: Findings indicate that learners held mostly positive beliefs. Watching films and television, reading, listening to English songs, music and radio channels, formal learning and practising speaking with others were the out-of-class language- learning activities reported by subjects that they carried out most frequently. There is an association between BALLs and the implementation of activities. Learners who regarded out-of-class language-learning activities as useful were found to possess more positive beliefs regarding their English learning in terms of BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) items. Learners who implemented out-of-class language-learning activities were found to have more positive beliefs in terms of two factors, Perceived value and nature of learning spoken English and Self-efficacy and expectation about learning English.
    [Show full text]
  • Mandarin Chinese As a Second Language: a Review of Literature Wesley A
    The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors Honors Research Projects College Fall 2015 Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature Wesley A. Spencer The University Of Akron, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Chinese Studies Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, and the Modern Languages Commons Recommended Citation Spencer, Wesley A., "Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature" (2015). Honors Research Projects. 210. http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/210 This Honors Research Project is brought to you for free and open access by The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors College at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Research Projects by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Running head: MANDARIN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 1 Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature Abstract Mandarin Chinese has become increasing prevalent in the modern world. Accordingly, research of Chinese as a second language has developed greatly over the past few decades. This paper reviews research on the difficulties of acquiring a second language in general and research that specifically details the difficulty of acquiring Chinese as a second language.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Saudis' Privacy Concerns When
    Understanding Saudis’ privacy concerns when using WhatsApp YasmeenYasmeen Rashidi RashidiIndianaIndiana University University KamiKami Vaniea VanieaUniversityUniversity of Edinburghof Edinburgh L. JeanL. Jean Camp CampIndianaIndiana University University INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS AND COMPUTING Where People and Computing C o n n e c t . Privacy and Culture • In 2004 , Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority has banned use of cell phones with built-in cameras. • Why? • Concern about photos being taken of women without their headscarves “hijab” or their modest clothes. http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/09/30/saudis-ban-use-cell-phone- cameras.html Privacy and Culture • In 2004 , Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority has banned use of cell phones with built-in cameras. • Why? • Concern about photos being taken of women without their headscarves “hijab” or their modest clothes. http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/09/30/saudis-ban-use-cell-phone- cameras.html Privacy and Culture • At the end of 2004, the Saudi government allowed the sale and use of phones with built- in cameras. • Use of camera phones are still discouraged or prevented in women gathering events. Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) and Privacy • In 2015, Mobile phone messaging apps were used by more than 1.4 billion consumers worldwide. • In 2015, 75% of smartphone users used at least one mobile messaging app at least once a month. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Messaging-Reach- 14-Billion-Worldwide-2015/1013215 WhatsApp Messenger What is WhatsApp? http://www.statista.com/statistics/260819/number-of-monthly-active-whatsapp-users/ Methodology Research Questions R1: How do Saudi users control access to their information using WhatsApp settings? R2: How do Saudi users manage issues associated with one-sided connections? Web-based Survey • Written in English and Arabic • Tested by native speakers • Survey Design • 42 questions; Multiple choices and 5-point Likert scales questions • Demographics, MIMs use, WhatsApp use, non-privacy and privacy settings, and opinions.
    [Show full text]