An investigation of language attitudes and dialect change in frenda spoken Arabic : case of Pragmatic marker (yaʕayyi)‎

Abstract EN

The present paper is intended to examine Frenda speakers' individual attitudes towards their dialectal behaviour introduced by the use of the pragmatic marker 'yaʕayyi'.

The methodological framework of this study employs a self-filling written questionnaire which was conducted on-line and distributed to a total number of (48) respondent who are native and local inhabitants of Frenda.

The results revealed that Frenda speakers exhibit negative attitudes towards the use of 'yaʕayyi' particularly outside their local area when they interact with non-local speakers.

Speakers stated their willingness to shift away from using this marker outside the region as the item in question is socially-stigmatised, carries a bedouin and is measured as a linguistic stereotype.