Social Media and Language Evolution: The Impact of Digital Communication on Language Change

Abstract

The growing popularity of social media has influenced the linguistic sphere in the digital age. Their influences are obvious in how language is used in digital communication. The growing phenomena of language evolution in social media are followed by the number of studies conducted in the field. The present study is a systematic review attempting to address two main questions, i.e. (1) How does social media influence linguistic simplification, including abbreviations and phonetic spellings? and (2) How does digital communication on social media platforms impact syntax and grammar, and are these variations consistent across different linguistic communities? The results point out linguistic economy tends to be the main factor for linguistic simplification due to favor of speediness and character limitation. Furthermore, younger generations are reported to use abbreviations in academic and professional settings, suggesting that these changes may contribute to long-term shifts in linguistic norms. Regarding syntax and grammar variation, the reviewed studies suggest that non-standard grammar used on social media contributes to a new stylistic register that is informal yet effective in conveying intent quickly and with minimal effort. These findings suggest that social media is influential in language evolution, particularly among youth, and its implications for language preservation, education, and cultural identity should be considered.