Morphological Adaptation of English Loanwords in Twitter: Educational Implications

Abstract

The influx of English borrowed items into Kuwait has recently considerably increased, driven by both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, mainly through new electronic media, and direct contact with the donor language. Kuwaitis, especially, the new generation heavily make use of English loanwords in mobile devices applications such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and others. It is significant to note that a recipient language (in this case KA) discloses different morphological and phonological features that affect loan words. This paper investigates the morphological adaptation of English loanwords as used by Kuwaitis in twitter. Results indicate that Kuwaitis heavily use and adapt loan words morphologically in twitter and in everyday speech. Significant educational implications were collected as well from interviewing 50 students.