Abstract

This study discusses how Saudi Arabian teenagers in Roblox and Fortnite perceive and understand their own linguistic practices within online gaming platforms, which act as sites for pragmatic identity negotiations made through code-switching, lexical creativity, and platform-based constraints. Based on written reflections, forum-style essays, as well as self-reported in-game profiles of 10 Saudi young people (aged 9-16), the study explores how participants conceptualize bilingual Arabic-English practices, such as Arabizi (i.e. 9albi instead of قلبي), and neologisms (i.e. شيلني instead of carry me), as strategies navigating global gaming conventions whilst maintaining cultural identity. Such practices are a manifestation of practical functions such as rapport building and opposition to filters that monolanguage (English) dominate the digital platform, which are all part of digital multilingualism and glocalization. The study analyzes participants’ reflective narratives and self-reported understanding of their language use rather than making claims about their spontaneous, live in-game speech. This work builds upon the research exploring multilingual digital interactions by evaluating how Saudi youth think, understand, and describe their code-switching as a negotiation of global-local identities to guide the platform design of multilingual equity. It fills the gaps in the non-Western gaming research, providing a platform of culturally sensitive learning interventions in accordance with the Saudi Arabian vision 2030.

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