International Journal of Arabic-English Studies (IJAES) Vol. 21, No.1, 2021 45 The Use of Arabic Neologisms in Social Media Applications https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.21.1.3 Hady J. Hamdan The University of Jordan, Jordan Saleh Al-Salman Applied Science Private University, Jordan Abstract: This study examines the use of Arabic neologisms in social media applications. It depicts the nature and size of this transformation, and the types of word formation processes which contributed to this phenomenon. The data for this research are collected from two sources: (1) major social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, among others, and (2) the responses of 100 university (under-graduate and post- graduate) students to a limited set of questions in which they are asked to (1) list the most commonly used Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and social media- motived terms, especially those which have been adapted to and integrated into the Arabic language morpho-phonemic and syntactic system (spoken and/or written), (2) show how often they use those terms especially when an Arabic equivalent/counterpart is available, and (3) give reasons for why they use them. The study shows that use of neologisms is attributed to reasons of practicality and convenience, accuracy and relevance, trendiness and internationalization, in addition to lack of equivalence in the Arabic language system. Further, the following processes which mark the integration of neologisms into the Arabic language system are identified: loan blends, syntactic changes, morpho-syntactic changes, phonemic changes, abbreviations and clipping. Keywords: corpus, lexical semantics, neologisms, social media, word formation process 1. Introduction Customarily, and from a purely linguistic perspective, no language is deemed better than another. In principle, the attributes of a language entail historicity, autonomy, codification, and flexible stability (Wardhaugh 2006). What makes a language what it really means is its rootedness, with a long-standing history and heritage derived and branching from a well-recognized language family tree with its own records of word origins and etymology. In this context, a language should be equipped with the rules that govern and codify all levels of proper linguistic and standardized usage including, phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (Garvin 1993; Wardhaugh2006). This very feature of codification presupposes a set of rules which empower the language with the most fundamental element of vitality recognizing it as a valid means of communication in different contexts, and for various communicative functions and purposes. Given the interactive nature of languages, they should be flexible enough to allow for interlingual reciprocity, where loanwords and lexical borrowings are sanctioned.