This document discusses the use of Arabish, which is Arabic written with Latin script. It provides background on how Arabish developed due to technological limitations and as a way for Arabic speakers to communicate digitally. The document then summarizes research on who writes in Arabish and why. A survey found most writers are young, educated females who find Arabish easier to type. Respondents said they use it because typing Arabic is difficult and it allows them to freely express themselves and their unique accent. However, some expressed it could limit Arabic literacy.

1. Arabish:Fad, Trend, or Language Shift?Salaam 3leykumAhlanwasahlan

2. Outline:Define our Terms

3. Background Information

4. What is it?

5. Why is it?

6. The Research

7. Methods

8. Data

9. Analysis

10. Discussion

11. AcknowledgmentsVarious Names of Arabish/3arabizi

12. Arabish/3arabizi…what is it?Example text:As-salam 3aleykum, wa ra7matAllah wa barakatuhPeace be with you and God's Mercy and Blessings upon you!

13. Arabish/3arabizi…what is it?Authentic text:ya 7ilweeeeeeeeeeen...sem3oo e'3niyat eljasmiesemha el6air...moo bas tyanen!!!enjoy this post...it will be the only post through Bandar's eyes...maybe the only... ;pit depends on the feedback i get and how i feel about it...i'm trying something new...so tell me what you think ya 7ilween...a7ebkom...mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...;************NB: Arabish is almost unintelligible to monolingual speakers of either Arabic or English!Arithmographemes…what are they? The use of numbers to represent phonemes

14. Not new, nor unique to Arabic

15. Used because of similar qualities to L1 graphemes

16. 7 and 3 tend to me most universally accepted in Arabic (see handout)Why is it?Arabish was created as a way for Arabic speakers to communicate before UNICODE (97,655) was available on modern technological devices. In the early 1990s, when ASCII (256) was the only language used in SMS/ICQ/HTTP platforms, Arabic users adopted Latin graphemes to communicate. Other non-Latin script users also adopted ASCII to communicate: Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Farsi, etc.

17. The ResearchArabish well known in SMS as a means of short communication

18. What about longer forms of text?RQs:Who is writing in Arabish in their blogs?Why are they writing like this?Are they writing like this in other discourse outside of CMC?

19. MethodsA small scale survey:

20. Data collected via 16 item open-ended questionnaire