The phrase commonly used today—“Send me the location”—serves as a vivid example of the linguistic interplay currently shaping the Arabic language amidst digital globalization and the rapid expansion of technological communication. When people use the term “location” (pronounced “location” in Arabic) instead of the Arabic word “mawqi‘” (site), they are not doing so out of a lack of vocabulary. Rather, it reflects a broader social and linguistic transformation that sociolinguistics seeks to study within its cultural and communicative contexts.
This phenomenon is closely tied to what is known as “linguistic diglossia” or even “linguistic hybridization”, where the native language intersects with borrowed vocabulary from foreign languages, often used to serve specific functions in daily life. While the word “location” is, semantically speaking, a precise synonym of the Arabic word “mawqi‘”, its pragmatic context carries an added social connotation—one associated with smartphones, mapping applications, and instant messaging platforms. Saying “Send me the mawqi‘” might come across as a more traditional phrase that doesn’t fully capture the technical action of sharing a direct geographic link via a specific app. By contrast, “Send me the location” has become imbued with a contemporary functional meaning that directly signals this technical process.
From a sociolinguistic perspective, such usage cannot be understood in isolation from the social contexts that produce and reproduce it. The choice to use a foreign term here is not a betrayal of the mother tongue but rather a reflection of a communicative reality where the local and the global intersect—reshaping individuals’ linguistic preferences based on variables such as age, profession, social class, and technological literacy. It’s often observed that the use of “location” is more prevalent among youth, educated individuals, or those directly engaged with modern technologies. This lends the term a social cachet or a sense of modernity, as opposed to “mawqi‘”, which might feel more formal or conventional.
Our stance toward this phenomenon should move beyond mere value judgments—whether praising or condemning speakers. The speaker is not a machine programmed to preserve the dictionary definitions of a language. Rather, they are a social agent who adapts language to their interactive needs, choosing words—whether from their native language or another—that best serve their communicative intent. However, this does not suggest a blanket acceptance of replacing Arabic vocabulary with foreign terms. Instead, it invites a measured reflection on the phenomenon and an understanding that resisting linguistic assimilation is not about prohibiting usage, but rather about reviving Arabic expressions and developing their pragmatic usage so they remain alive and effective in the speaker’s consciousness.
In this light, the phrase “Send me the location” is not merely a linguistic slip or a verbal luxury. It is an embodiment of social-linguistic dynamics worthy of study—an indicator of how communication patterns are shifting in our societies, and how language continually interacts with identity, technology, and culture.
