Open AccessLanguage and New Words and Phrases Related to Coronavirus Among Saudi Arabian Students: Awareness, Knowledge, and Use
Author(s) -
Abdullah M. Almelhi,
Najat Ahmed Busabaa
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
theory and practice in language studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-0692
pISSN - 1799-2591
DOI - 10.17507/tpls.1202.02
Subject(s) - pandemic , isolation (microbiology) , psychology , social distance , disease , covid-19 , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
This study investigates the awareness of Saudi Arabian students on the knowledge and use of new words and phrases that are related to coronavirus disease such as “self-isolation”, “self-quarantine”, “social distancing”, “confirmed cases”, “slowing down the rate” and “ahead to the curve”. These new lexes were transmitted directly to the ordinary people undertaking processes such as "wash your hands”, “stay home”, and “save lives” or words that worldly defined the disease as epidemic then pandemic with the ultimate use nowadays of vaccination. Besides, the paper aims at studying gender differences between Saudi males and females’ knowledge and use of the newly coined words and phrases. To find out how students have been affected by the disease on their knowledge and use of their language, the researchers designed a questionnaire consisting of 25 items estimating the students’ recognition of the impact of this phenomenon on language and the students’ awareness. The results reveal that the students’ awareness of knowledge and use of the new words and phrases varied as it was basically revealed in their response to the 25 items. It provides evidence that Saudi students have the ability to recognize the impact of coronavirus on their language.