Young Saudis' Attitudes toward Saudi Pidgin Arabic

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of young Saudis in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, toward Saudi Pidgin Arabic (SPA), an Arabic-Asian pidgin language. Though SPA is widely used among foreign workers and between employers and their foreign workers, little is known about the specific attitudes of the young Saudi generation toward this stigmatized contact language (Bakir, 2010), as compared to their native Najdi Saudi Arabic (NSA) and English. This study was developed to clarify how the young Saudi participants communicated linguistically with their housemaids—the most numerous population of female foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. This investigation was designed as a quantitative study. It was conducted using a survey containing 4 sections to (1) measure participant responses to verbal guise stimuli and (2) yield information about participants’ social-media use, socio-demographic information, and language used with housemaids. The statistical analysis showed that young Saudis preferred NSA stimuli to SPA and preferred SPA stimuli to English. Most participants claimed to have limited English proficiency; higher levels of English proficiency were predictive of negative attitudes toward SPA. Young Saudi males were more likely to speak English than their female counterparts, and females in the study generally perceived SPA more negatively than did males. This study concluded that the traditional Saudi cultural focus on respect for others still shapes attitudes toward SPA; participants’ attitudes primarily concerned the ability of non-Arabic speakers to understand conversation. Although young Saudi males and females possess varying levels of English proficiency and sometimes express opposing views regarding SPA, young Saudis’ attitudes continue to remain generally negative toward the use of the language.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Grantor

Texas Tech University

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Aldubaikhi, S A

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Baugh, Scott
• Hurst, Mary Jane

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Price, Joseph

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2346/104594

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ttu-ir.tdl.org:2346/104594