Exploring New Linguistic Communities in Egypt through TikTok Videos An Anthropological Linguistic Approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Linguistics & Translation Department Faculty of Language and Communication Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime transport

2 Assistant professor of Linguistics

3 Professor of Linguistics and Translation

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between language, society, and the emergence of distinctive linguistic communities in Egypt, facilitated by the digital platform TikTok, with a specific focus on the elite residential compounds that have emerged due to urbanization. This distinctiveness is reflected in their linguistic practices, which deliberately incorporate loanwords instead of traditional Arabic and Egyptian vocabulary. Based on this premise, the study examines the linguistic practices observed within Egypt's elite compounds. The study also explores how these behaviors may support an exclusive cultural identity, alongside the social dynamics and motivations that influence the adoption of these novel linguistic forms. The study gathers a corpus of data in the form of movies videos from the TikTok platform to accomplish these goals. These videos are specifically selected to reflect life within the elite compounds situated along the Northern Coast. Employing an anthropological linguistic analysis, the research examines the socio-cultural context that envelops the collected data. The results indicate that the selected TikTok videos are used as a tool to assess and make sense of their complicated and ever-evolving culture. Speakers in these videos use a unique pattern of language to assert their distinctiveness. One major feature of this pattern is the frequent use of code-switching between Arabic and English. In conclusion, TikTok videos provide a platform for young people to express themselves by both ridiculing and embracing changing social standards, particularly those that pertain to income, status, and physical appearance.

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