Abstract
In the 2011 protests that the Arab world has been witnessing, there is a revival of the language of protest which has remained dormant in recent past. This paper will attempt to provide a sociolinguistic analysis of some of the language content of blogs, banners and headlines which have appeared both on the ground in protests across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A selected number of samples are used to illustrate both standard features and the regionalisms reflected in slogans, chants and written materials lending substance to the argument of variability within the MSAs in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Yemen (Ibrahim 2009). However, despite the differences in geographic context, the similarity in demands, issues, and theme in addition to the strength and clarity in the message call for brevity and meaning not form becomes more important. Other features including prosody, rhyme and other “catchy” aspects in both standard and colloquial result in a high degree of effectiveness, mutual use and intelligibility of slogans and language for mass protest.
When a protest march includes young and old, male and female demonstrators form various steps in the socio-economic ladder, the language used to convey the message has to “click” for a cross section of these participants for it to be adopted and exported. A slogan is born, evolves and lives to become either universally appealing, or to disappear. Possible factors (both linguistic and other) contributing to the effectiveness of protest language will also be discussed.
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