Impact of Social Media on Youth Language in Swedish and Croatian

Pavić, Barbara. (2016). Impact of Social Media on Youth Language in Swedish and Croatian. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature > Chair of Scandinavian Languages and Literature. [mentor Novak Milić, Jasna].

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Abstract

Social media are a result of advances in modern technology which greatly impacts changes in both spoken and written communication. Although all generations use social media, youth are the predominant instigators of linguistic changes. Younger generations have built their identity by employing various linguistic forms such as slang and abbreviations originating mostly from their mother tongue. Thanks to social media, the main role in creating such specific forms has now been assumed by English, a language used by an increasing number of young people in their day-to-day online communication. The objective of this paper was to investigate common characteristics of language used by Swedish and Croatian youth on social media, and to show the effects these media and English as a global language have on their communication. The presumptions were that language on social media has characteristics of spoken language, that youth have their own way of communication which greatly differs from child or adult language, its aim being the creation of different layers of identity, and that youth language is susceptible to changes as a consequence of the globalization of English and the advances in technology, i.e. social media. The results of the conducted research show different linguistic forms characteristic of youth communication on social media and include abbreviations and swearwords as well as the use of emoticons and loanwords.

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