Includes bibliographical references (82-86). / In this study, I examine language contact phenomena exhibited by two groups of young middle-class Syrian citizens. Members of one group were born and have been living with their families in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They however, have maintained strong relations with their extended families in Syria and visit them regularly. Because of this they are considered mobile and more exposed to other cultures and environments in which communication in English is prevalent. Contrastively members of the second group were born and have been living in their homeland Syria, so they did not have the exposure to other cultures that members of the first group had. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a developing country that has opened doors and jobs opportunities for millions of foreigners whose main medium of communication is English. This means that members of the first group who are resident in Riyadh have experienced more cross-cultural influences than their less mobile peers in Damascus. I set out to examine the impact of the mixed culture on the sociolinguistic repertoire and behaviour of the Riyadh-based Syrians as compared to their less mobile Damascus-based peers. In particular, the study aims to demonstrate the influence of language contact as reflected in code-switching and lexical borrowing. I conducted 20 interviews in the summer of 2008 in Syria. Both groups included an equal number of male and female participants. All interviews were conducted in friendly congenial settings which allowed participants to converse naturally. All instances of lexical borrowing and code-switching were catalogued. After analysing data from the two sets of speakers, it was found that whilst borrowing was prevalent in both groups, code-switching tended to be minimal. This shows that the degree of contact was not very intense. The difference in mobility, between the two groups, however, was reflected in their respective repertoires. In fact, mobility and exposure to other cultures was a major distinguishing factor between the participants. Members of the mobile group used more English lexical items than the less mobile group. The analysis was also done taking into account the participants' work experience. It was found that equal work experience resulted in similar findings across the gender line. The exposure to the world of work demanded higher levels of proficiency in English, since it was the language mostly used in the industrial-commercial environment. The use of English was also necessitated by computer programs and access to other technical and scientific information which was in English. The study also, showed that speaker's attitudes played a significant part in forming their linguistic behaviour albeit consciously or unconsciously. Speakers with a more accommodating attitude towards English tended to have more loanwords in their speech, across the two groups. Such code-switching as does occur in both groups shows no clear pattern that is linked to the type of schooling, mobility, or attitude, between the switcher participants, it was found that other personal experiences play a role. Personal experience that varies from individual to another according to their unique exposure to English media and other pleasure facilities, can be salient in strengthen one's English competence. Thereby, it gives the individual the ability to use the language more often and on a larger scale. Finally the study demonstrated that sociolinguistic repertoire was, to a large extent, a product of mobility and cultural exposure.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/8940 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Mozaic, Zeina |
| Contributors | Mesthrie, Rajend |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Linguistics |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | application/pdf |
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