The Hegemony of English Loanwords Over Kurdish Language on Facebook

The global rise of the internet after the 2000s, as well as the rise of American influence in Iraq and Kurdistan, strengthened English's hegemony over all other Iraqi languages, including Kurdish. In fact, many Arabic and even Kurdish expressions are now being replaced by English ones. This stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ibrahim Khalil Awlla, Ismail Abdulrahman Abdulla
Format: Article
Language:Arabic
Published: Salahaddin University-Erbil 2023-12-01
Series:Zanco Journal of Humanity Sciences
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Online Access:https://zancojournal.su.edu.krd/index.php/JAHS/article/view/954
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Summary:The global rise of the internet after the 2000s, as well as the rise of American influence in Iraq and Kurdistan, strengthened English's hegemony over all other Iraqi languages, including Kurdish. In fact, many Arabic and even Kurdish expressions are now being replaced by English ones. This study aims to identify loanwords used in selected Facebook groups, as well as instances that characterize English language hegemony in Kurdish social media. It also aims to discover the types of loanwords that are more commonly used in social media in relation to Myers-Scotten's Model. And then, relate all of this to the social class, age, or gender that uses loanwords the most on Facebook. On this basis, the researchers selected 2,776 Facebook posts and comments from two Facebook groups of teachers between January 1st 2022 and December 31st 2022 and by using discourse analysis the English loanwords were analyzed. The study's key findings were that, of the two types of loanwords, core borrowings were used more frequently, indicating the presence of the English language's hegemony. Additionally, male teachers in both groups used more English loanwords than female teachers did, whereas other social variables like social class and age showed less variation.
ISSN:2412-396X