Jebaselvi, C., Mohanraj, K., Thangamani, A., & Kumar, M. "The Impact of Social Media on the Evolution of Language and Communication Trends." Shanlax International Journal of English, vol. 12, 2023, pp. 41-44. DOI: 10.34293/english.v12i1.6725.

          This journal article delves into the influence social media has on language development. Specifically, it analyzes the impact of the widespread use of social media on shaping communication among its users. Social media has significantly affected aspects such as communication and language patterns. The digital age profoundly impacts communication in aspects such as grammar, memes, and social media influencers' influence on users on various social media platforms. It also highlights how such platforms create a digital space that allows for experimentation and the creation of new words, including slang. 
         With a comprehensive examination of evidence on the relationship between social media and the evolution of language, this journal article is useful in offering concrete evidence for such changes. The insight can provide context for understanding certain trends with the dataset. However, there is a lack of datasets and visualizations regarding the frequency or lifetime of specific words that our project focuses on. While there is valuable background on the project topic, more specific approaches and examples that more closely align with slang and its evolution across various social media platforms are needed. Overall, this article serves as a great theoretical guide to shape an overall understanding of the project focus but does not play a crucial role in developing a data-driven analysis of our chosen slang terms. 

Saputra, Renda, and Yasir Salih. "Development and Impact of the Use of Slang on Instagram Social Media on Teenagers and Society: Case Study of Indonesian in the Digital Era." International Journal of Linguistics, Communication, and Broadcasting, vol. 1, 2023, pp. 1-3. DOI: 10.46336/ijlcb.v1i4.21.

          This case study surrounds the use of slang on Instagram, with a focus on Indonesian teenagers, as the younger generation, tend to be the most active on such platforms. The study finds that the development of social platforms and the influence of the internet have significantly contributed to the spread of slang.  To analyze this, the research method included analyzing Instagram posts and user interactions to understand better the implications of digital communication in affecting slang, utilizing an approach that collected words rather than statistics. The research found that Instagram contributed to creating a more relaxed form of communication that does not conform to traditional language conventions. 

          The implications of this case study showcased the impactfulness of social media in the evolution of language, specifically slang on Instagram. Regarding our project, this case study provides valuable evidence for the integral role of social media in shaping slang. While the study follows the evolution of slang, there are no statistical numbers to accompany the research that would benefit our project. Our project focuses on certain slang words, tracking their evolution across different platforms. Although this is the case for our project, the study, on the other hand, only follows slang on a single platform, Instagram, rather than across different social media platforms. 

"Social Media Speeds Up Language Evolution." Language Magazine, 21 January 2021. www.languagemagazine.com/social-media-speeds-up-language-evolution.

          This article explores the impact of social media on the evolution of language, highlighting how platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok accelerate changes in language use and norms. It discusses the rapid dissemination of new slang, abbreviations, and neologisms, as well as the influence of digital communication on spelling, grammar, and syntax. The article provides examples of how social media users adapt language creatively and how these changes spread across different demographics and regions.

          The insights offered in this article are valuable for understanding the dynamic relationship between technology and language. It underscores the role of social media in shaping contemporary communication and could be useful for discussions on digital literacy and linguistic adaptability in the modern age.
          This source is relevant to our project on social media’s role in language evolution. Using a dataset of posts with new slang terms like “situationship”, we track the lifetime, frequency, and sentiment of words. The article’s examples and analysis will aid our exploration of how social media spreads and adopts new slang across demographics, helping us visualize language evolution in the digital age.

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Cohn, Carolyn. "Social Media’s Effect on Language." Compukol Communications, 15 Aug. 2020, www.compukol.com/social-medias-effect-on-language/.

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          This article examines the profound effects social media has on language, emphasizing both positive and negative impacts. It delves into the ways social media platforms influence vocabulary expansion, language simplification, and the emergence of new forms of expression. Additionally, it addresses concerns about the potential degradation of language skills due to the prevalence of informal and abbreviated communication online.
          The article is useful for understanding how social media affects language in both good and bad ways. It looks at how social media creates new ways of using language and also the problems it might cause for traditional language skills. This source is helpful for discussions about how language is changing in the digital age and can add to talks about how digital communication affects language learning and literacy.
          For our project, this article offers a balanced perspective on the dual nature of social media’s influence on language. Its discussion of both the positive innovations and the potential drawbacks will provide a nuanced view that is critical for our analysis.

Balleweg, Abigail. "Literacy Evolution: Social Media and Language in the Modern World." Talon News, 6 Mar. 2024, www.talon.news/culture/literacy-evolution-social-media-and-language-in-the-modern-world/.

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          This article provides an overview of how social media platforms contribute to the evolution of literacy and language in contemporary society. It highlights the ways in which social media fosters new literacy skills, such as the ability to navigate and interpret multimedia content and the development of digital storytelling techniques. The article also discusses the blending of visual and textual communication that characterizes much of social media interaction.
          The article is valuable for understanding how social media shapes modern literacy practices. It emphasizes the need for adaptability in communication skills and recognizes the creative potential of digital platforms in redefining literacy.
          This source provides concrete examples and thorough analysis that will enhance our understanding of how new slang terms emerge and spread. By tracking the lifetime, frequency, and sentiment of these words in social media posts, we can better visualize the process of language change and its impact across various demographics in the digital age.
 

Michael, C. "Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language." Because 
Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language (a Review), vol. 3, no. 3, 2019, pp. 1-5. ResearchGate, 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336788035_Because_Internet_Understanding_the_new_rules_of_language_a_review.

          This is a review of the book ‘Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language’ author by Gretchen McCulloch. This review discussed in detail how the internet, particularly social media, and also how it has influenced the evolution of language. McCulloch examines how digital communication has created new linguistic norms and practices, and how these changes reflect broader cultural shifts. This book review highlights the key themes discussed in the book. These themes include the evolution of online language and the use and impact of online emoticons in communication. Michael highlights McCulloch's nuanced approach, which avoids oversimplifying or dismissing internet language as mere slang. Michael also points out the limitations that the book faces. The book's main focus is on English, or too much is centered on Western culture. For this reason, McCulloch lacks the opportunity to explore online language practices in other languages and across cultures. As discussed in the review, McCulloch's book provides a basic understanding of how digital communication platforms shape language practices. The review itself is useful as it succinctly summarizes the main contributions and criticisms of the book, providing insight into the strengths and potential biases of McCulloch's analysis.

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Aguglia, Christina. “3 Ways Social Media Changed the Way We Use Language.” Crowley Webb, 6 June 2024, www.crowleywebb.com/news/three-ways-social-media-changed-language/.

          This article discusses in three different ways how social media has transformed language in the social media revolution. It explores how social media platforms have influenced the way we communicate to others. It completely changed to a new way of communication styles. The article provides examples of how using the abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms will save us time when communicating on social mediaIn addition, examples of the use of emoticons to express users' expressions and the application and prevalence of grouping users on social media are given. By giving out these examples, it illustrates the dynamic relationship between social media and language evolution. This article presents a concise overview of the impact of social media on language. By doing so make it suitable for a wide audience interested in this topic. While this article lacks the depth and academic rigor of scholarly sources, it effectively communicates the key points and trends in an engaging manner. The clear structure and the format combined with the given example provided to the reader understand the practical implications of social media on language use, making the content relatable and relevant. This article can be a useful starting point for understanding the broad impact of social media on language use in a contemporary context.

OUPblog. "How Social Media Is Changing Language." OUPblog, Oxford University Press, 20 June 2014, https://blog.oup.com/2014/06/social-media-changing-language/.

          This blog was posted by Jon Reed and he talks about how fast the online platforms have changed from unfriend to selfie, but also of how they influence the language in his writing. He discusses how platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have influenced language and introduced new words. Abbreviations like "lol" and "omg" have become very common. Even some abbreviations create a new word. For some common words the social media channels even crop up with the new meanings of the words. For example, a troll is no longer just a character from Norse folklore, but someone who makes offensive or provocative comments online. This blog gives readers an engaging overview of the effects of social media on language evolution by listing out real life examples. It states how social media platforms have transformed communication patterns. This resource is a helpful starting point for understanding the pattern on language on social media. The examples given make it clear how social media has accelerated linguistic evolution and opened up new forms of creative expression through language. Social media is making it easier than ever to contribute to the evolution of language. You no longer have to be published through traditional avenues to bring word trends to the attention of the masses. If you do not want to feel left behind, you have to keep the current.

 

UK, LSPR. “The Effect of Social Media on Language.” London School of Public Relations, 16 Feb. 2022, http://lspr-education.com/2022/02/16/the-effect-of-social-media-on-language/.

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          This article tries to understand how social media affects language and how it aids slang in being adopted into the official English language as evidenced by its inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary. Going deeper, it gives instances of words like ‘tweet’, ‘follow’ and ‘follower’ that have been changed from what they were used in the past as only nouns and are now used both as nouns and verbs because of the social media. As the effect, utilizing this source allows making a contribution to the discussion about the consequences of using social media for language structure. They identify that where there was once elaborate sentences and phrases, there are now shorter and simple sentence structures due to the invention of applications like Twitter which require limited characters. Examples or reduced words and phrases include abbreviations and , for instance, the OMG acronyms and the LOL acronyms. The source concludes with a few rhetorical questions related to the lexemes’ future, with special attention being paid to the possibility of the words originating from social networks’ statuses becoming canonical.
         As a source, this article contributes to the information required for our project on how social media is changing language in several respects. It also gives strong examples of how the social media terms have evolved in the OED and how they have gone from being slang to being standard and this supports the proponents of the view that social media is a main proponent of language change. More specifically, by pointing out how social media keeps language ‘short and sweet’ with the help of hashtags and abbreviation, the source not only depicts one of the prominent language shifts of the digital era but also demonstrates the way technology impacts language economy and efficacy. An added strength of this discussion is that by exploring which new words might be added to the dictionary soon, the trends of language evolution are illuminated in addition to the traditional historical and comparative elements of the languages being compared, such as tumble and pin. Further, Mallary Jean Tenore would be agree with the argument that usage of social media boosts our language by making it more colloquial rather than it being ‘dumbed down’ by the freedom that it provides for the evolution of language.

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Uddin, Sumaira. “Evolution of Slang: From the Disco Floor to Social Media.” The Stallion, 4 
Feb. 2024, mrhsnews.com/3146/feature/evolution-of-slang-from-the-disco-floor-to-social-media/.

          The article "Evolution of Slang: Researchers Sumaira Uddin and Ragib Ahanaf’s “Disco to Hashtag: A journey through slang” in Slangico. It expresses how slang works as a mirror to the culture and society – with examples of how it has changed throughout various decades. The 1970s slang is different from the modern one, as, for instance, instead of using “freak out” people said “golly gee” or “cool beans”, which give the impression of childishness and stupidity. In stark comparison to this, there are modern colloquialisms, such as ‘on god,’ ‘bet,’ and ‘no cap,’ demonstrating a trend towards explicit and unambiguous phrases. This piece also talks of how the new generation, new age social media such as TikTok and Instagram help in the conveyance of the new age slangs being prevalent, hence helping trends to go viral. Further, it notes that some eternity ‘slang’ terms, including ‘trippin’ and ‘dude’, remain quite popular with the millennials and hence have act as linguistic references that interconnect generations.
          This source is helpful to our project of looking at how social media is changing language since it affords a comparison of slang between different decades, thus giving the reader an appreciation that slang and indeed casual language overall is an ever-evolving entity. Indeed, the swift process of extension and introduction of slang terms into the general populace’s vernacular is made possible heavily by the influence of social media platforms today, such as TikTok and Instagram. 
 

Shokhrukh, Azimov. "The Impact of Social Media on Teenage English Slang: Investigating the Influence of Platforms like Instagram and TikTok on the Evolution of English Slang Among Teenagers." Kokand University Research Base, vol. 1, no. 4, Apr. 2024, pp. 86-93, https://scholar.kokanduni.uz/index.php/rb/article/view/293.

          This research project discusses how social media, specifically the platforms Instagram and TikTok, are currently playing a major role in altering and establishing the slang spoken by teenagers online and in their day-to-day lives. There has been an increase in teenagers using these social media platforms as a way to be creative, affecting the way they speak and express themselves. Through this research, they aimed to explore the relationship between social media and language, how the environment provided and cultivated by these platforms can aid teens in creating and broadening their slang dictionary, and how the new forms of communication teens are adopting are impacting their sociolinguistics. Methods in this research study range from linguistic analysis to digital ethnography to computational methods that examine mechanisms by which social media incites shifts in teen slang and track whether and the extent to which visual culture, algorithmic distribution, and peer interactions influence the underlying patterns of linguistic affordances, and ultimately connect to broader societal and cultural transformations. Other methods include mining content, conducting surveys, and gauging quantitative analytics to track lexical evolution and its broader cultural adoption. The overall thesis of the research paper takes a wider view of the consequences of evolutionary linguistic change driven by social media, with implications for education, the intergenerational communicative divide, and language policy. Studying this ethnography will point the way toward the future of linguistic evolution as social media usage intensifies and further embeds itself into our daily lives and core functions.

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Zhang, Leihan, Jichang Zhao, and Ke Xu. "Who Creates Trends in Online Social Media: The Crowd or Opinion Leaders?" Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 21, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2016, pp. 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12145.​

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          In this research study, they use a mixed-method approach for the discernment of the key drivers behind the viral propagation of trends on social media. Their approach focuses on the number of times internet slang terms appear per day and uses peak performance detection algorithms to map out two significant peaks in the diffusion of these terms: an initial peak signaling a first burst in usage, and a later peak reflecting widespread adoption. Early-stage diffusion is typically more localized and limited in scope than widespread adoption. The study slices through the traditional hypothesis that a small group of opinion leaders must be responsible for the trendsetting of certain terms. They zoomed in on early adopters of terms during both peaks, looking at the distribution of users with different numbers of followers, verified statuses on Weibo, retweet steps, and geographic distribution, among many other measures. The conclusion highlights the importance of the “crowd,” the regular users, in creating trends, directly going against previous literature that often suggested opinion leaders in the center of the gravity of influences. The study notes that opinion leaders do start diffusions, but they never manage to reach the scale of mass coverage that identifies a real fad without the decisive participation of the crowd. The study articulates a solid methodological framework and analytical guide for tracking the infant degree of life of new slang terms, such as the most recent vocab “situationship.” Using the proposed peak-detection techniques (e.g. frequency, user influence, retweet patterns, geographic diffusions) and accounting for contextual aspects (e.g. situational nature of friend zones and ambiguity of so-called situations), we can measure in quantitative terms how and when new words catch collective attention.
 

Fasola, Jelena. "Slang and Its History." Proceedings of the Conference on Linguistics and Literary Studies, 2023, https://dukonference.lv/files/proceedings_of_conf/53konf/valodnieciba_literaturzinatne/Fasola.pdf.​

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          The paper analyzes the history of slang words, focusing on their origination, evolution and its effect in today’s society. Fasola emphasizes on the importance of slang words in the group settings and the social realm, where slang words often help break the ice between people and encourage meaningful conversations. It further discusses the complexity of defining a word as “slang”, and emphasizes on the fact that defining slang words is extremely difficult. The paper goes on to talk about how different cultures and technologies have influenced slang words in our society. Tracing the evolution of slang words from the Middle Ages to modern day, Fasola shows the sociolinguistic role of slang. 
          Fasola’s work is very thorough and the paper offers us a good source of information and viewpoints to understand the multifaceted nature of slang. Furthermore, the paper incorporates a lot of different theories on the origination and evolution of slang. This helps the readers develop a better well-rounded understanding of slang in history and contemporary society. 
          This document is crucial for the understanding of individual slang words in today’s day and age. It helps us compare and contrast the evolution of particular words from others throughout history. Fasola’s insight into the social functions of slang will help us apply formalism, feminism, and marxism to our project. 

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​Izmaylova, Guzel Alekseevna, Gulyusa Rafaelevna Zamaletdinova, and Maira Satibaldiebna Zholshayeva. "Linguistic and Social Features of Slang." International Journal of Scientific Study, vol. 5, no. 6, 2017, pp. 75-78.

          https://www.ijss-sn.com/uploads/2/0/1/5/20153321/ijss-iran_sep_17_benson_oa16.pdf

In this research study the multifaceted nature of slang is taken into account. The paper primarily focuses on slang’s linguistic and social perspectives. It analyzes how the youth are influenced by slang in today's society, helping people find identity and self expression in today’s world. To achieve this, the study focuses on the origination, process of coining, and life of new slangs. Different types of slang words used also give us a perspective on society - its wants, struggles, and mentality.
          In the research paper, a study revolves around the effect of English language slangs on the youth of Russia. The paper says that these individuals have a major effect on their culture and attitude. I find it really interesting as to how the youth of Russia has strayed away from their roots just because of the use of slang language. These slang words are often generated from the western world, and eventually decrease the original culture in eastern countries. The findings say that the use of slang often poses a major risk to the stability of language norms. 
          The paper focuses on linguistics as a whole and how slangs have implications for language and cultural development. Even though slang has a multifaceted role in our society, it has the power to create societal change and influence the creativity of writers in today’s day and age. The correct usage and application of slang is extremely important in our society. 
 

Fadil, Thami. “The Effect of Social Media on the Language.” Assahifa, 2 July 2021, www.assahifa.com/english/opinions/the-effect-of-social-media-on-the-language.

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          This article focuses on the positive and negative changes in language brought about by social media in today’s generation. Dr. Fadil begins exploring this topic by first focusing on the positive impact social media platforms have had on the evolution of language and communication. We now have abbreviations for nearly all things that exist in the outside world and language has become less complex and more beneficial for effective transference of thoughts. Further down, with the aid of auto-correction spellings, people have been able to learn how to spell the words much better than they used to. In general, as the author said, today’s language is ‘a lot easier on the tongue’ and I wonder if there is any other phrase that could reflect the current situation more accurately. But do the positives indeed overcome the negatives? According to Dr. Fadil, that is not the case at all.
          He goes on to reveal that due to the high rate of message interchange, the words are deformed and the standard language norms are violated. It has become natural for individuals to employ such features as slang, acronyms, and shortened forms of expressions since the usage of the messages needs to be faster. Fadil writes, and I also believe that such abbreviated communication can drastically reduce the focus on grammar and hinder the expression of the culture of language as well. For example, everyday techniques that are applied in conversation with friends through social networks are the use of such abbreviations as ‘LOL’ which stands for ‘laugh out loud’ or ‘BRB’ which means ‘be right back,’ while such means make the correspondence shorter and faster, they deny the communication a certain level of depth. Knowing these dynamics, we can approach the project with a better standpoint which will help us to look not only at the linguistic changes but at the cultural and educational shift as well.

Suciu, Peter. "Say It Ain't So: Social Media Could Allow Slang to Become Accepted Grammar." Forbes, 15 Sept. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2021/09/15/say-it-aint-so--social-media-could-allow-slang-to-become-accepted-grammar.

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          In this article, Peter Suciu looks at the effects that social media has had on the development of language such as inclusion of slang and informal mean and demeanors into standard grammar. As one reads through the article, Suciu points out that it has both pros and cons. He notes that social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, as well as other social networks, are perfect examples of where people come up with and develop new ways of speaking or of putting words together; once worded, it can spread and be adopted and utilized by other people in a relatively short span. This brings about a normalization of these new terms since social media posts go viral and, hence, quick enough to influence the change in the general lexicon.
          Suciu also discusses the positive outcomes of this change at the lexical level. He says that the integration of slang into language can make it more versatile as well as rich in the representation of current culture. It permits freer play of thought and emotion as people create new words or phrases with which to more adequately express their ideas and attitudes. However, as it has been mentioned earlier, Suciu appreciates the fact that it does come with some risks and drawbacks. He has increasing worries as regards the degradation of grammatical standards in the works and the wearing down of formality in writing. This is a challenge because as slang receives acceptance in society there is a possibility that particularly the young generation may fail to differentiate on which occasions it is correct to use slang language and which is a formal language. This change could create problems in career and college-related tasks wherever formal grammar is required to be used. Suciu makes the article of high value in appreciating the fact that social media plays an important role in language evolution. He has provided a good insight which makes the article relevant for our project research as it centers on the issues of language resulting from social media usage.